PRESIDENT D'HONNEUR DE LA FEDERATION SPIRITE INTERNATIONALEPRESIDENT OF THE LONDON SPIRITUALIST ALLIANCEPRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH COLLEGE OF PSYCHIC SCIENCE

VOLUME ONE

TOSIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S.A GREAT LEADERBOTH IN PHYSICAL AND IN PSYCHIC SCIENCEIN TOKEN OF RESPECTTHIS WORK IS DEDICATED

PREFACE

This work has grown from small disconnected chapters into a narrativewhich covers in a way the whole history of the Spiritualistic movement.This genesis needs some little explanation. I had written certainstudies with no particular ulterior object save to gain myself, and topass on to others, a clear view of what seemed to me to be importantepisodes in the modern spiritual development of the human race. Theseincluded the chapters on Swedenborg, on Irving, on A. J. Davis, on theHydesville incident, on the history of the Fox sisters, on the Eddys andon the life of D. D. Home. These were all done before it was suggestedto my mind that I had already gone some distance in doing a fullerhistory of the Spiritualistic movement than had hitherto seen thelight-a history which would have the advantage of being written from theinside and with intimate personal knowledge of those factors which arecharacteristic of this modern development.

It is indeed curious that this movement, which many of us regard as themost important in the history of the world since the Christ episode, hasnever had a historian from those who were within it, and who had largepersonal experience of its development. Mr. Frank Podmore broughttogether a large number of the facts, and, by ignoring those which didnot suit his purpose, endeavoured to suggest the worthlessness of mostof the rest, especially the physical phenomena, which in his view weremainly the result of fraud. There is a history of Spiritualism by Mr.McCabe which turns everything to fraud, and which is itself a misnomer,since the public would buy a book with such a title under the impressionthat it was a serious record instead of a travesty. There is also ahistory by J. Arthur Hill which is written from a strictly psychicresearch point of view, and is far behind the real provable facts. Thenwe have "Modern American Spiritualism: A Twenty Years' Record," and"Nineteenth Century Miracles," by that great woman and splendidpropagandist, Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, but these deal only withphases, though they are exceedingly valuable. Finally-and best ofall-there is "Man's Survival After Death," by the Rev. Charles L.Tweedale; but this is rather a very fine connected exposition of thetruth of the cult than a deliberate consecutive history. There aregeneral histories of mysticism, like those of Ennemoser and Howitt, butthere is no clean-cut, comprehensive story of the successivedevelopments of this world-wide movement. Just before going to press abook has appeared by Campbell-Holms which is a very useful compendium ofpsychic facts, as its title, "The Facts of Psychic Science andPhilosophy," implies, but here again it cannot claim to be a connectedhistory.

It was clear that such a work needed a great deal of research-far morethan I in my crowded life could devote to it. It is true that my timewas in any case dedicated to it, but the literature is vast, and therewere many aspects of the movement which claimed my attention. Underthese circumstances I claimed and obtained the loyal assistance of Mr.W. Leslie Curnow, whose knowledge of the subject and whose industry haveproved to be invaluable. He has dug assiduously into that vast quarry;he has separated out the ore from the rubbish, and in every way he hasbeen of the greatest assistance. I had originally expected no more thanraw material, but he has occasionally given me the finished article, ofwhich I have gladly availed myself, altering it only to the extent ofgetting my own personal point of view. I cannot admit too fully theloyal assistance which he has given me, and if I have not conjoined hisname with my own upon the title-page it is for reasons which heunderstands and in which he acquiesces.

I. The Story of SwedenborgII. Edward Irving: The ShakersIII. The Prophet of the New RevelationIV. The Hydesville EpisodeV. The Career of the Fox SistersVI. First Developments in AmericaVII. The Dawn in EnglandVIII. Continued Progress in EnglandIX. The Career of D. D. HomeX. The Davenport BrothersXI. The Researches of Sir William Crookes (1870-1874)XII. The Eddy Brothers and the HolmesesXIII. Henry Slade and Dr. MonckXIV. Collective Investigations of Spiritualism Appendix[Index and Bibliography at end of Volume Two]

ILLUSTRATIONS

(not included in this eBook)

Little Katie Fox Gets An Answer To Her SignalsEmanuel SwedenborgAndrew Jackson DavisMargaretta Fox-Kane: Kate Fox-Jencken: Leah UnderhillSir William CrookesD. D. HomeProfessor Crookes's Test To Show That The Medium And The Spirit Were Separate EntitiesAlfred Russel Wallace

CHAPTER I

THE STORY OF SWEDENBORG

It is impossible to give any date for the early appearances of externalintelligent power of a higher or lower type impinging upon the affairsof men. Spiritualists are in the habit of taking March 31, 1848, as thebeginning of all psychic things, because their own movement dates fromthat day. There has, however, been no time in the recorded history ofthe world when we do not find traces of preternatural interference and atardy recognition of them from humanity. The only difference betweenthese episodes and the modern movement is that the former might bedescribed as a case of stray wanderers from some further sphere, whilethe latter bears the sign of a purposeful and organized invasion. But asan invasion might well be preceded by the appearance of pioneers whosearch out the land, so the spirit influx of recent years was heraldedby a number of incidents which might well be traced to the Middle Agesor beyond them. Some term must be fixed for a commencement of thenarrative, and perhaps no better one can be found than the story of thegreat Swedish seer, Emanuel Swedenborg, who has some claim to be thefather of our new knowledge of supernal matters.

When the first rays of the rising sun of spiritual knowledge fell uponthe earth they illuminated the greatest and highest human mind beforethey shed their light on lesser men. That mountain peak of mentality wasthis great religious reformer and clairvoyant medium, as littleunderstood by his own followers as ever the Christ has been.

In order fully to understand Swedenborg one would need to have aSwedenborg brain, and that is not met with once in a century. And yet byour power of comparison and our experience of facts of which Swedenborgknew nothing, we can realize some part of his life more clearly than hecould himself. The object of this study is not to treat the man as awhole, but to endeavour to place him in the general scheme of psychicunfolding treated in this work, from which his own Church in itsnarrowness would withhold him.

Swedenborg was a contradiction in some ways to our psychicgeneralizations, for it has been the habit to say that great intellectstands in the way of personal psychic experience. The clean slate iscertainly most apt for the writing of a message. Swedenborg's mind wasno clean slate, but was criss-crossed with every kind of exact learningwhich mankind is capable of acquiring. Never was there such aconcentration of information. He was primarily a great mining engineerand authority on metallurgy. He was a military engineer who helped toturn the fortunes of one of the many campaigns of Charles XII of Sweden.He was a great authority upon astronomy and physics, the author oflearned works upon the tides and the determination of latitude. He was azoologist and an anatomist. He was a financier and political economistwho anticipated the conclusions of Adam Smith. Finally, he was aprofound Biblical student who had sucked in theology with his mother'smilk, and lived in the stern Evangelical atmosphere of a Lutheran pastorduring the most impressionable years of his life. His psychicdevelopment, which occurred when he was fifty-five, in no way interferedwith his mental activity, and several of his scientific pamphlets werepublished after that date.

With such a mind it is natural enough that he should be struck by theevidence for extra-mundane powers which comes in the way of everythoughtful man, but what is not natural is that he should himself be themedium for such powers. There is a sense in which his mentality wasactually detrimental and vitiated his results, and there was another inwhich it was to the highest degree useful. To illustrate this one has toconsider the two categories into which his work may be divided.

The first is the theological. This seems to most people outside thechosen flock a useless and perilous side of his work. On the one hand heaccepts the Bible as being in a very particular sense the work of God.Upon the other he contends that its true meaning is entirely differentfrom its obvious meaning, and that it is he, and only he, who, by thehelp of angels, is able to give the true meaning. Such a claim isintolerable. The infallibility of the Pope would be a trifle comparedwith the infallibility of Swedenborg if such a position were admitted.The Pope is at least only infallible when giving his verdict on pointsof doctrine ex cathedra with his cardinals around him. Swedenborg'sinfallibility would be universal and un restricted. Nor do hisexplanations in the least commend themselves to one's reason. When, inorder to get at the true sense of a God-given message, one has tosuppose that a horse signifies intellectual truth, an ass signifiesscientific truth, a flame signifies improvement, and so on and onthrough countless symbols, we seem to be in a realm of make-believewhich can only be compared with the ciphers which some ingenious criticshave detected in the plays of Shakespeare. Not thus does God send Histruth into the world. If such a view were accepted the Swedenborgiancreed could only be the mother of a thousand heresies, and we shouldfind ourselves back again amid the hair-splittings and the syllogisms ofthe mediaeval schoolmen. All great and true things are simple andintelligible. Swedenborg's theology is neither simple nor intelligible,and that is its condemnation.

When, however, we get behind his tiresome exegesis of the Scriptures,where everything means something different from what it obviously means,and when we get at some of the general results of his teaching, they arenot inharmonious with liberal modern thought or with the teaching whichhas been received from the Other Side since spiritual communicationbecame open. Thus the general proposition that this world is alaboratory of souls, a forcing-ground where the material refines out thespiritual, is not to be disputed. He rejects the Trinity in its ordinarysense, but rebuilds it in some extraordinary sense which would beequally objectionable to a Unitarian. He admits that every system hasits divine purpose and that virtue is not confined to Christianity. Heagrees with the Spiritualist teaching in seeking the true meaning ofChrist's life in its power as an example, and he rejects atonement andoriginal sin. He sees the root of all evil in selfishness, yet he admitsthat a healthy egoism, as Hegel called it, is essential. In sexualmatters his theories are liberal to the verge of laxity. A Church heconsidered an absolute necessity, as if no individual could arrange hisown dealings with his Creator. Altogether, it is such a jumble of ideas,poured forth at such length in so many great Latin volumes, andexpressed in so obscure a style, that every independent interpreter ofit would be liable to found a new religion of his own. Not in thatdirection does the worth of Swedenborg lie.

That worth is really to be found in his psychic powers and in hispsychic information which would have been just as valuable had no wordof theology ever come from his pen. It is these powers and thatinformation to which we will now turn.

Even as a lad young Swedenborg had visionary moments, but the extremelypractical and energetic manhood which followed submerged that moredelicate side of his nature. It came occasionally to the surface,however, all through his life, and several instances have been put onrecord which show that he possessed those powers which are usuallycalled "travelling clairvoyance," where the soul appears to leave thebody, to acquire information at a distance, and to return with news ofwhat is occurring elsewhere. It is a not uncommon attribute of mediums,and can be matched by a thousand examples among Spiritualisticsensitives, but it is rare in people of intellect, and rare also whenaccompanied by an apparently normal state of the body while thephenomenon is proceeding. Thus, in the oft-quoted example of Gothenburg,where the seer observed and reported on a fire in Stockholm, 300 milesaway, with perfect accuracy, he was at a dinner-party with six teenguests, who made valuable witnesses. The story was investigated by noless a person than the philosopher Kant, who was a contemporary.

These occasional incidents were, however, merely the signs of latentpowers which came to full fruition quite suddenly in London in April ofthe year 1744 It may be remarked that though the seer was of a goodSwedish family and was elevated to the Swedish nobility, it was none theless in London that his chief books were published, that hisillumination was begun and finally that he died and was buried. From theday of his first vision he continued until his death, twenty-seven yearslater, to be in constant touch with the other world. "The same night theworld of spirits, hell and heaven, were convincingly opened to me, whereI found many persons of my acquaintance of all conditions. Thereafterthe Lord daily opened the eyes of my spirit to see in perfectwakefulness what was going on in the other world, and to converse, broadawake, with angels and spirits."

In his first vision Swedenborg speaks of "a kind of vapour steaming fromthe pores of my body. It was a most visible watery vapour and felldownwards to the ground upon the carpet." This is a close description ofthat ectoplasm which we have found to be the basis of all physicalphenomena. The substance has also been called "ideoplasm," because ittakes on in an instant any shape with which it is impressed by thespirit. In this case it changed, according to his account, into vermin,which was said to be a sign from his Guardians that they disapproved ofhis diet, and was accompanied by a clairaudient warning that he must bemore careful in that respect.

What can the world make of such a narrative? They may say that the manwas mad, but his life in the years which followed showed no sign ofmental weakness. Or they might say that he lied. But he was a man whowas famed for his punctilious veracity. His friend Cuno, a banker ofAmsterdam, said of him, "When he gazed upon me with his smiling blueeyes it was as if truth itself was speaking from them." Was he thenself-deluded and honestly mistaken? We have to face the fact that in themain the spiritual observations which he made have been confirmed andextended since his time by innumerable psychic observers. The trueverdict is that he was the first and in many ways the greatest of thewhole line of mediums, that he was subject to the errors as well as tothe privileges which mediumship brings, that only by the study ofmediumship can his powers be really understood, and that in endeavouringto separate him from Spiritualism his New Church has shown a completemisapprehension of his gifts, and of their true place in the generalscheme of Nature. As a great pioneer of the Spiritual movement hisposition is both intelligible and glorious. As an isolated figure withincomprehensible powers, there is no place for him in any broadcomprehensive scheme of religious thought.

It is interesting to note that he considered his powers to be intimatelyconnected with a system of respiration. Air and ether being all aroundus, it is as if some men could breathe more ether and less air and soattain a more etheric state. This, no doubt, is a crude and clumsy wayof putting it, but some such idea runs through the work of many schoolsof psychic thought. Laurence Oliphant, who had no obvious connexion withSwedenborg, wrote his book "Sympneumata" in order to explain it. TheIndian system of Yoga depends upon the same idea. But anyone who hasseen an ordinary medium go into trance is aware of the peculiar hissingintakes with which the process begins and the deep expirations withwhich it ends. A fruitful field of study lies there for the Science ofthe future. Here, as in other psychic matters, caution is needed. Theauthor has known several cases where tragic results have followed uponan ignorant use of deep-breathing psychic exercises. Spiritual, likeelectrical power, has its allotted use, but needs some knowledge andcaution in handling.

Swedenborg sums up the matter by saying that when he communed withspirits he would for an hour at a time hardly draw a breath, "taking inonly enough air to serve as a supply to his thoughts." Apart from thispeculiarity of respiration, Swedenborg was normal during his visions,though he naturally preferred to be secluded at such times. He seems tohave been privileged to examine the other world through several of itsspheres, and though his theological habit of mind may have tinctured hisdescriptions, on the other hand the vast range of his material knowledgegave him unusual powers of observation and comparison. Let us see whatwere the main facts which he brought back from his numerous journeys,and how far they coincide with those which have been obtained since hisday by psychic methods.

He found, then, that the other world, to which we all go after death,consisted of a number of different spheres representing various shadesof luminosity and happiness, each of us going to that for which ourspiritual condition has fitted us. We are judged in automatic fashion,like going to like by some spiritual law, and the result beingdetermined by the total result of our life, so that absolution or adeath-bed repentance can be of little avail. He found in these spheresthat the scenery and conditions of this world were closely reproduced,and so also was the general framework of society. He found houses inwhich families lived, temples in which they worshipped, halls in whichthey assembled for social purposes, palaces in which rulers might dwell.

Death was made easy by the presence of celestial beings who helped thenew-comer into his fresh existence. Such new-comers had an immediateperiod of complete rest. They regained consciousness in a few days ofour time.

There were both angels and devils, but they were not of another order toourselves. They were all human beings who had lived on earth and whowere either undeveloped souls, as devils, or highly developed souls, asangels.

We did not change in any way at death. Man lost nothing by death, butwas still a man in all respects, though more perfect than when in thebody. He took with him not only his powers but also his acquired modesof thought, his beliefs and his prejudices.

All children were received equally, whether baptized or not. They grewup in the other world. Young women mothered them until the real mothercame across.

There was no eternal punishment. Those who were in the hells could worktheir way out if they had the impulse. Those in the heavens were also inno permanent place, but were working their way to something higher.

There was marriage in the form of spiritual union in the next world. Ittakes a man and a woman to make a complete human unit. Swedenborg, itmay be remarked, was never married in life.

There was no detail too small for his observation in the spirit spheres.He speaks of the architecture, the artisans' work, the flowers andfruits, the scribes, the embroidery, the art, the music, the literature,the science, the schools, the museums, the colleges, the libraries andthe sports. It may all shock conventional minds, though why harps,crowns and thrones should be tolerated and other less material thingsdenied, it is hard to see.

Those who left this world old, decrepit, diseased, or deformed, renewedtheir youth, and gradually assumed their full vigour. Married couplescontinued together if their feelings towards each other were close andsympathetic. If not, the marriage was dissolved. "Two real lovers arenot separated by the death of one, since the spirit of the deceaseddwells with the spirit of the survivor, and this even to the death ofthe latter, when they again meet and are reunited, and love each othermore tenderly than before."

Such are some gleanings out of the immense store of information whichGod sent to the world through Swedenborg. Again and again they have beenrepeated by the mouths and the pens of our own Spiritualisticilluminates. The world has so far disregarded it, and clung to outwornand senseless conceptions. Gradually the new knowledge is making itsway, however, and when it has been entirely accepted the true greatnessof the mission of Swedenborg will be recognized, while his Biblicalexegesis will be forgotten.

The New Church, which was formed in order to sustain the teaching of theSwedish master, has allowed itself to become a backwater instead ofkeeping its rightful place as the original source of psychic knowledge.When the Spiritualistic movement broke out in 184.8, and when men likeAndrew Jackson Davis supported it with philosophic writings and psychicpowers which can hardly be distinguished from those of Swedenborg, theNew Church would have been well advised to hail this development asbeing on the lines indicated by their leader. Instead of doing so, theyhave preferred, for some reason which is difficult to understand, toexaggerate every point of difference and ignore every point ofresemblance, until the two bodies have drifted into a position ofhostility. In point of fact, every Spiritualist should honourSwedenborg, and his bust should be in every Spiritualist temple, asbeing the first and greatest of modern mediums. On the other hand, theNew Church should sink any small differences and join heartily in thenew movement, contributing their churches and organization to the commoncause.

It is difficult on examining Swedenborg's life to discover what are thecauses which make his present-day followers look askance at otherpsychic bodies. What he did then is what they do now. Speaking ofPolhem's death the seer says: "He died on Monday and spoke with me onThursday. I was invited to the funeral. He saw the hearse and saw themlet down the coffin into the grave. He conversed with me as it was goingon, asking me why they had buried him when he was alive. When the priestpronounced that he would rise again at the Day of judgment he asked whythis was, when he had risen already. He wondered that such a beliefcould obtain, considering that he was even now alive."

This is entirely in accord with the experience of a present-day medium.If Swedenborg was within his rights, then the medium is so also.

Again: "Brahe was beheaded at 10 in the morning and spoke to me at 10that night. He was with me almost without interruption for severaldays."

Such instances show that Swedenborg had no more scruples about conversewith the dead than the Christ had when He spoke on the mountain withMoses and Elias.

Swedenborg has laid down his own view very clearly, but in consideringit one has to remember the time in which he lived and his want ofexperience of the trend and object of the new revelation. This view wasthat God, for good and wise purposes, had separated the world of spiritsfrom ours and that communication was not granted except for cogentreasons-among which mere curiosity should not be counted. Every earneststudent of the psychic would agree with it, and every earnestSpiritualist is averse from turning the most solemn thing upon earthinto a sort of pastime. As to having a cogent reason, our main reason isthat in such an age of materialism as Swedenborg can never haveimagined, we are endeavouring to prove the existence and supremacy ofspirit in so objective a way that it will meet and beat the materialistson their own ground. It would be hard to imagine any reason more cogentthan this, and therefore we have every right to claim that if Swedenborgwere now living he would have been a leader in our modern psychicmovement.

Some of his followers, notably Dr. Garth Wilkinson, have put forwardanother objection thus: "The danger of man in speaking with spirits isthat we are all in association with our likes, and being full of evilthese similar spirits, could we face them, would but confirm us in ourown state of views."

To this we can only reply that though it is specious it is proved byexperience to be false. Man is not naturally bad. The average humanbeing is good. The mere act of spiritual communication in its solemnitybrings out the religious side. Therefore as a rule it is not the evilbut the good influence which is encountered, as the beautiful and moralrecords of seances will show. The author can testify that in nearlyforty years of psychic work, during which he has attended innumerableseances in many lands, he has never on any single occasion heard anobscene word or any message which could offend the ears of the mostdelicate female. Other veteran Spiritualists bring the same testimony.Therefore, while it is undoubtedly true that evil spirits are attractedto an evil circle, in actual practice it is a very rare thing for anyoneto be incommoded thereby. When such spirits come the proper procedure isnot to repulse them, but rather to reason gently with them and soendeavour to make them realize their own condition and what they shoulddo for self-improvement. This has occurred many times within theauthor's personal experience and with the happiest results.

Some little personal account of Swedenborg may fitly end this briefreview of his doctrines, which is primarily intended to indicate hisposition in the general scheme. He must have been a most frugal,practical, hard-working and energetic young man, and a most lovable oldone. Life seems to have mellowed him into a very gentle and venerablecreature. He was placid, serene, and ever ready for conversation whichdid not take a psychic turn unless his companions so desired. Thematerial of such conversations was always remarkable, but he wasafflicted with a stammer which hindered his enunciation. In person hewas tall and spare, with a spiritual face, blue eyes, a wig to hisshoulders, dark clothing, knee-breeches, buckles, and a cane.

Swedenborg claimed that a heavy cloud was formed round the earth by thepsychic grossness of humanity, and that from time to time there was ajudgment and a clearing up, even as the thunderstorm clears the materialatmosphere. He saw that the world, even in his day, was drifting into adangerous position owing to the unreason of the Churches on the one sideand the reaction towards absolute want of religion which was caused byit. Modern psychic authorities, notably Vale Owen, have spoken of thisever-accumulating cloud, and there is a very general feeling that thenecessary cleansing process will not be long postponed.

A notice of Swedenborg from the Spiritualistic standpoint may be bestconcluded by an extract from his own diary. He says: "All confirmationsin matters pertaining to theology are, as it were, glued fast into thebrains, and can with difficulty be removed, and while they remain,genuine truths can find no place." He was a very great seer, a greatpioneer of psychic knowledge, and his weakness lay in those very wordswhich he has written.

The general reader who desires to go further will find Swedenborg's mostcharacteristic teachings in his "Heaven and Hell," "The New Jerusalem,"and "Arcana Coelestia." His life has been admirably done by GarthWilkinson, Trobridge, and Brayley Hodgetts, the present president of theEnglish Swedenborg Society. In spite of all his theological symbolism,his name must live eternally as the first of all modern men who hasgiven a description of the process of death, and of the world beyond,which is not founded upon the vague ecstatic and impossible visions ofthe old Churches, but which actually corresponds with the descriptionswhich we ourselves obtain from those who endeavour to convey back to ussome clear idea of their new existence.

CHAPTER II

EDWARD IRVING: THE SHAKERS

The story of Edward Irving and his experience of spiritualmanifestations in the years from 1830 to 1833 are of great interest tothe psychic student, and help to bridge the gap between Swedenborg onone side and Andrew Jackson Davis on the other. The facts are asfollows:

Edward Irving was of that hard-working poorer-class Scottish stock whichhas produced so many great men. Of the same stock and at the same timeand district came Thomas Carlyle. Irving was born in Annan in the year1792. After a hard, studious youth, he developed into a very singularman. In person he was a giant and a Hercules in strength, his splendidphysique being only marred by a bad outward cast of one eye-a defectwhich, like Byron's lame foot, seemed in some sort to present an analogyto the extremes in his character. His mind, which was virile, broad andcourageous, was warped by early training in the narrow school of theScottish Church, where the hard, crude views of the old Covenanters-animpossible Protestantism which represented a reaction against animpossible Catholicism-still poisoned the human soul. His mentalposition was strangely contradictory, for while he had inherited thiscramped theology he had failed to inherit much which is the verybirthright of the poorer Scot. He was opposed to all that was liberal,and even such obvious measures of justice as the Reform Bill of 1832found in him a determined opponent.

This strange, eccentric, and formidable man had his proper environmentin the 17th century, when his prototypes were holding moorland meetingsin Gallo way and avoiding, or possibly even attacking with the arms ofthe flesh, the dragoons of Claverhouse. But, live when he might, he wasbound to write his nacre in some fashion on the annals of his time. Weread of his strenuous youth in Scotland, of his rivalry with his friendCarlyle in the affections of the clever and vivacious Jane Welsh, of hisenormous walks and feats of strength, of his short career as a ratherviolent school-teacher at Kirkcaldy, of his marriage to the daughter ofa minister in that town, and finally of his becoming curate or assistantto the great Dr. Chalmers, who was, at that time, the most famousclergyman in Scotland, and whose administration of his parish in Glasgowis one of the outstanding chapters in the history of the ScottishChurch. In this capacity he gained that man-to-man acquaintance with thepoorer classes which is the best and most practical of all preparationsfor the work of life. Without it, indeed, no man is complete.

There was at that time a small Scottish church in Hatton Garden, offHolborn, in London, which had lost its pastor and was in a poorposition, both spiritually and financially. The vacancy was offered toDr. Chalmers's assistant, and after some heart-searchings was acceptedby him. Here his sonorous eloquence and his thoroughgoing delivery ofthe Gospel message began to attract attention, and suddenly the strangeScottish giant became the fashion. The humble street was blocked bycarriages on a Sunday morning, and some of the most distinguished menand women in London scrambled for a share of the very scantyaccommodation. There is evidence that this extreme popularity did notlast, and possibly the preacher's habit of expounding a text for an hourand a half was too much for the English weakling, however acceptablenorth of the Tweed. Finally a move was made to a larger church in RegentSquare which could hold two thousand people, and there were sufficientstalwarts to fill this in decent fashion, though the preacher had ceasedto excite the interest of his earlier days. Apart from his oratory,Irving seems to have been a conscientious and hardworking pastor,striving assiduously for the temporal needs of the more humble of hisflock, and ever ready at all hours of the day or night to follow thecall of duty.

Soon, however, there came a rift between him and the authorities of hisChurch. The matter in dispute made a very fine basis for a theologicalquarrel of the type which has done more harm in the world than thesmallpox. The question was whether the Christ had in Him the possibilityof sin, or whether the Divine portion of His being was a complete andabsolute bar to physical temptations. The assessors contended that theassociation of such ideas as sin and Christ was a blasphemy. Theobdurate clergyman, however, replied with some show of reason thatunless the Christ had the capacity for sin, and successfully resistedit, His earthly lot was not the same as ours, and His virtues deservedless admiration. The matter was argued out in London with immenseseriousness and at intolerable length, with the result that thepresbytery declared its unanimous disapproval of the pastor's views. As,however, his congregation in turn expressed their unqualified approval,he was able to disregard the censure of his official brethren.

But a greater stumbling-block lay ahead, and Irving's encounter with ithas made his name live as all names live which associate themselves withreal spiritual issues. It should first be understood that Irving wasdeeply interested in Biblical prophecy, especially the vague andterrible images of St. John, and the strangely methodical forecasts ofDaniel. He brooded much over the years and the days which were fixed asthe allotted time before the days of wrath should precede the SecondComing of the Lord. There were others at that time-1830 and onwards-whowere deeply immersed in the same sombre speculations. Among these was awealthy banker named Drummond, who had a large country house at Albury,near Guildford. At this house these Biblical students used to assemblefrom time to time, discussing and comparing their views with suchthoroughness that it was not unusual for their sittings to extend over aweek, each day being fully taken up from breakfast to supper. This bandwas called the "Albury Prophets." Excited by the political portentswhich led up to the Reform Bill, they all considered that thefoundations of the deep had been loosened. It is hard to imagine whattheir reaction would have been had they lived to witness the Great War.As it was, they were convinced that the end of all things was at hand,and they looked out eagerly for signs and portents, twisting the vagueand sinister words of the prophets into all manner of fantasticinterpretations.

Finally, above the monotonous horizon of human happenings there didactually appear a strange manifestation. There had been a legend thatthe spiritual gifts of earlier days would reassert themselves before theend, and here apparently was the forgotten gift of tongues coming backinto the experience of mankind. It had begun in 1830 on the western sideof Scotland, where the names of the sensitives, Campbell and MacDonald,spoke of that Celtic blood which has always been more alive to spiritualinfluences than the heavier Teutonic strain. The Albury Prophets weremuch exercised in their minds, and an emissary was sent from Mr.Irving's church to investigate and report. He found that the matter wasvery real. The people were of good repute, one of them, indeed, a womanwhose character could best be described as saintly. The strange tonguesin which they both talked broke out at intervals, and the manifestationwas accompanied by healing miracles and other signs of power. Clearly itwas no fraud or pretence, but a real influx of some strange force whichcarried one back to apostolic times. The faithful waited eagerly forfurther developments.

These were not long in coming, and they broke out in Irving's ownchurch. It was in July, 1831, that it was rumoured that certain membersof the congregation had been seized in this strange way in their ownhomes, and discreet exhibitions were held in the vestry and othersecluded places. The pastor and his advisers were much puzzled as towhether a more public demonstration should be tolerated. The mattersettled itself, however, after the fashion of affairs of the spirit, andin October of the same year the prosaic Church of Scotland service wassuddenly interrupted by the strange outcry of the possessed. It came sosuddenly and with such vehemence, both at the morning and afternoonservice, that a panic set in in the church, and had it not been fortheir giant pastor thundering out, "Oh, Lord, still the tumult of thepeople!" a tragedy might have followed. There was also a good deal ofhissing and uproar from those who were conservative in their tastes.Altogether the sensation was a considerable one, and the newspapers ofthe day were filled with it, though their comments were far fromrespectful or favourable.

The sounds came from both women and men, and consisted in the firstinstance of unintelligible noises which were either mere gibberish, orsome entirely unknown language. "Sudden, doleful, and unintelligiblesounds," says one witness. "There was a force and fulness of sound,"said another description, "of which the delicate female organs wouldseem incapable." "It burst forth with an astounding and terrible crash,"says a third. Many, however, were greatly impressed by these sounds, andamong them was Irving himself. "There is a power in the voice to thrillthe heart and overawe the spirit after a manner which I have never felt.There is a march and majesty and sustained grandeur of which I havenever heard the like. It is likest to one of the simplest and mostancient chants in the cathedral service in so much that I have been ledto think that these chants, which can be traced as high as Ambrose, arerecollections of the inspired utterances of the primitive Church."

Soon, moreover, intelligible English words were added to the strangeoutbursts. These usually consisted of ejaculations and prayers, with noobvious sign of any supernormal character save that they broke out atunseasonable hours and independently of the will of the speaker. In somecases, however, these powers developed until the gifted one was able,while under the influence, to give long harangues, to lay down the lawin most dogmatic fashion over points of doctrine, and to issue reproofswhich occasionally were turned even in the direction of thelongsuffering pastor.

There may have been-in fact, there probably was-a true psychic origin tothese phenomena, but they had developed in a soil of narrow bigotedtheology, which was bound to bring them to ruin. Even Swedenborg'sreligious system was too narrow to receive the full undistorted gifts ofthe spirit, so one can imagine what they became when contracted withinthe cramped limits of a Scottish church, where every truth must be shornor twisted until it corresponds with some fantastic text. The new goodwine will not go into the old narrow bottles. Had there been a fullerrevelation, then doubtless other messages would have been received inother fashions which would have presented the matter in its justproportions, and checked one spiritual gift by others. But there was nodevelopment save towards chaos. Some of the teaching received could notbe reconciled with orthodoxy, and was therefore obviously of the devil.Some of the sensitives condemned others as heretics. Voice was raisedagainst voice. Worst of all, some of the chief speakers became convincedthemselves that their own speeches were diabolical. Their chief reasonseems to have been that they did not accord with their own spiritualconvictions, which would seem to some of us rather an indication thatthey were angelic. They entered also upon the slippery path of prophecy,and were abashed when their own prophecies did not materialize.

Some of the statements which came through these sensitives, and whichshocked their religious sensibilities, might seem to deserve seriousconsideration by a more enlightened generation. Thus one of theseBible-worshippers is recorded as saying, concerning the Bible Society,"That it was the curse going through the land, quenching the Spirit ofGod, by the letter of the Word of God." Right or wrong, such anutterance would seem to be independent of him who uttered it, and it isin close accord with many of the spiritual teachings which we receiveto-day. So long as the letter is regarded as sacred, just so long cananything, even pure materialism, be proved from that volume.

One of the chief mouthpieces of the spirit was a certain RobertBaxter-not to be confused with the Baxter who some thirty years laterwas associated with certain remarkable prophecies. This Robert Baxterseems to have been a solid, earnest, prosaic citizen who viewed theScriptures much as a lawyer views a legal document, with an exactvaluation of every phrase-especially of such phrases as fitted into hisown hereditary scheme of religion. He was an honest man with a restlessconscience, which continually worried him over the smaller details,while leaving him quite unperturbed as to the broad platform upon whichhis beliefs were constructed. This man was powerfully affected by theinflux of spirit-to use his own phrase, "his mouth was opened in power."According to him, January 14, 1832, was the beginning of those mystical1,260 days which were to precede the Second Coming and the end of theworld. Such a prediction must have been particularly sympathetic toIrving with his millennial dreams. But long before the days werefulfilled Irving was in his grave, and Baxter had forsworn those voiceswhich had, in this instance at least, deceived him.

Baxter has written a pamphlet with the portentous title, "Narrative ofFacts, Characterising the Supernatural Manifestations, in Members of Mr.Irving's Congregation, and other Individuals, in England and Scotland,and formerly in the Writer Himself." Spiritual truth could no more comethrough such a mind than white light could come through a prism, and yetin this account he has to admit the occurrence of many things which seemclearly preternatural, mixed up with much that is questionable, and somethings which are demonstrably false. The object of the pamphlet ismainly to forswear his evil and invisible guides, so that he may returnto the safe if flattish bosom of the Scottish Church. It is noticeable,however, that a second member of Irving's congregation wrote ananswering pamphlet with an even longer title, which showed that Baxterwas right so long as he was prompted by the spirit, and wrong in hisSatanic inferences. This pamphlet is interesting as containing lettersfrom various people who possessed the gift of tongues, showing that theywere earnest-minded folk who were incapable of any conscious deception.

What is an impartial psychic student who is familiar with more modernphases to say to this development? Personally it seems to the author tohave been a true psychic influx, blanketed and smothered by a pettysectarian theology of the letter-perfect description for which thePharisees were reproved. If he may venture his individual opinion, it isthat the perfect recipient of spiritual teaching is the earnest man whohas worked his way through all the orthodox creeds, and whose mind,eager and receptive, is a blank surface ready to register a newimpression exactly as received. He becomes the true child and pupil ofother-world teaching, and all other types of Spiritualist appear to becompromises.

This does not alter the fact that personal nobility of character maymake the honest compromiser a far higher type than the pureSpiritualist, but it applies only to the actual philosophy. The field ofSpiritualism is infinitely broad, and on it every variety of Christian,as well as the Moslem, the Hindu or the Parsee, can dwell inbrotherhood. But a mere acceptance of spirit return and communion is notenough. Many savages have that. We need a moral code as well, andwhether we regard Christ as a benevolent teacher or as a divineambassador, His actual ethical teaching in one form or another, even ifnot coupled with His name, is an essential thing for the upliftment ofmankind. But always it must be checked by reason, and acted upon in thespirit and not according to the letter.

This, however, is digression. In the voices of 1831 there are the signsof real psychic power. It is a recognized spiritual law that all psychicmanifestations become distorted when seen through the medium of narrowsectarian religion. It is also a law that pompous, inflated personsattract mischievous entities and are the butts of the spirit world,being made game of by the use of large names and by prophecies whichmake the prophet ridiculous. Such were the guides who descended upon theflock of Mr. Irving, and produced various effects, good or bad,according to the instrument used.

The unity of the Church, which had been shaken by the previous censureof the presbytery, dissolved under this new trial. There was a largesecession, and the building was claimed by the trustees. Irving and thestalwarts who were loyal to him wandered forth in search of newpremises, and found them in the hall used by Robert Owen, the Socialist,philanthropist, and free-thinker, who was destined twenty years later tobe one of the pioneer converts to Spiritualism. Here, in Gray's InnRoad, Irving rallied the faithful. It cannot be denied that the Church,as he organized it, with its angel, its elders, its deacons, itstongues, and its prophecies, was the best reconstruction of a primitiveChristian Church that has ever been made. If Peter or Paul reincarnatedin London they would be bewildered, and possibly horrified, by St.Paul's or by Westminster Cathedral, but they would certainly have beenin a perfectly familiar atmosphere in the gathering over which Irvingpresided. A wise man recognizes that God may be approached frominnumerable angles. The minds of men and the spirit of the times vary intheir reaction to the great central cause, and one can only insist upona broad charity both in oneself and in others. It was in this thatIrving seems to have been wanting. It was always by the standard of thatwhich was a sect among sects that he would measure the universe. Therewere times when he was vaguely conscious of this, and it may be thatthose wrestlings with Apollyon, of which he complains, even as Bunyanand the Puritans of old used to comes plain, had a strange explanation.Apollyon was really the Spirit of Truth, and the inward struggle was notbetween Faith and Sin, but was really between the darkness of inheriteddogma, and the light of inherent and instinctive reason, God-given, andrising for ever in revolt against the absurdities of man.

But Irving lived very intensely and the successive crises through whichhe had passed had broken him down. These contests with argumentativetheologians and with recalcitrant members of his flock may seem trivialthings to us when viewed far off down the vista of years, but to him,with his eager, earnest, storm-torn soul, they were vital and terrible.To the unfettered mind this sect or that seems a matter of indifference,but to Irving, both from heredity and from education, the ScottishChurch was the ark of God, and yet he, its zealous, faithful son, drivenby his own conscience, had rushed forth and had found the great gateswhich contained Salvation slammed and barred behind him. He was a branchcut from the tree, and he withered. It is a true simile, and it is morethan a simile, for it became an actual physical fact. This giant inearly middle age wilted and shrank. His great frame stooped. His cheeksbecame hollow and wan. His eyes shone with the baleful fever which wasconsuming him. And so, working to the very end and with the words, "If Idie, I die with the Lord," upon his lips, his soul passed forth intothat clearer and more golden light where the tired brain finds rest andthe anxious spirit enters into a peace and assurance which life hasnever given.

* * * * *

Apart from this isolated incident of Irving's Church, there was oneother psychic manifestation of those days which led more directly to theHydesville revelation. This was the outbreak of spiritual phenomenaamong the Shaker communities in the United States, which has receivedless attention than it deserves.

These good people seem to have had affiliations on the one side with theQuakers, and, on the other, with the refugees from the Cevennes, whocame to England to escape the persecution of Louis XIV. Even in Englandtheir harmless lives did not screen them from the persecution of thebigots, and they were forced to emigrate to America about the time ofthe War of Independence.

There they founded settlements in various parts, living simple cleanlylives upon communistic principles, with sobriety and chastity as theirwatchword. It is not surprising that as the psychic cloud of other-worldpower slowly settled upon the earth it should have found its firstresponse from such altruistic communities. In 1837 there were sixty suchbodies in existence, and all of them responded in various degrees to thenew power. They kept their experiences very strictly to themselves atthe time, for as their elders subsequently explained, they wouldcertainly have been all consigned to Bedlam had they told what hadactually occurred. Two books, however, "Holy Wisdom" and "The SacredRoll," which arose from their experiences, appeared afterwards.

The phenomena seem to have begun with the usual warning noises, and tohave been followed by the obsession from time to time of nearly all thecommunity. Everyone, man and woman, proved to be open to spiritpossession. The invaders only came, however, after asking permission,and at such intervals as did not interfere with the work of thecommunity. The chief visitants were Red Indian spirits, who camecollectively as a tribe. "One or two elders might be in the room below,and there would be a knock at the door and the Indians would ask whetherthey might come in. Permission being given, a whole tribe of Indianspirits would troop into the house, and in a few minutes you would hear'Whoop!' here and 'Whoop!' there all over the house." The whoopsemanated,-of course, from the vocal organs of the Shakers themselves,but while under the Indian control they would talk Indian amongthemselves, dance Indian dances, and in all ways show that they werereally possessed by the Redskin spirits.

One may well ask why should these North American aborigines play solarge a part not only in the inception, but in the continuance of thismovement? There are few physical mediums in this country, as well as inAmerica, who have not a Red Indian guide, whose photograph has notinfrequently been obtained by psychic means, still retaining hisscalp-locks and his robes. It is one of the many mysteries which we havestill to solve. We can only say for certain, from our own experience,that such spirits are powerful in producing physical phenomena, but thatthey never present the higher teaching which comes to us either fromEuropean or from Oriental spirits. The physical phenomena are still,however, of very great importance, as calling the attention of scepticsto the matter, and therefore the part assigned to the Indians is a veryvital one. Men of the rude open-air type seem in spirit life to beespecially associated with the crude manifestations of spirit activity,and it has been repeatedly asserted, though it is hard to say how itcould be proved, that their chief organizer was an adventurer who inlife was known as Henry Morgan, and died as Governor of Jamaica, a postto which he had been appointed in the time of Charles II. Such unprovedassertions are, it must be admitted, of no value in our present state ofknowledge, but they should be put on record as further information mayin time shed some new light upon them. John King, which is the spiritname of the alleged Henry Morgan, is a very real being, and there arefew Spiritualists of experience who have not seen his heavily-beardedface and heard his masterful voice. As to the Indians who are hiscolleagues or his subordinates, one can but hazard the conjecture thatthey are children of Nature who are nearer perhaps to the primitivesecrets than other more complex races. It may be that their special workis of the nature of an expiation and atonement-an explanation which theauthor has heard from their lips.

These remarks may well seem a digression from the actual experience ofthe Shakers, but the difficulties raised in the mind of the inquirerarise largely from the number of new facts, without any order orexplanation, which he is forced to encounter. His mind has no possiblepigeon-hole into which they can be fitted. Therefore, the author willendeavour in these pages to provide so far as possible from his ownexperience, or from that of those upon whom he can rely, such sidelightsas may make the matter more intelligible, and give at least a hint ofthose laws which lie behind, and are as binding upon spirits as uponourselves. Above all, the inquirer must cast away for ever the idea thatthe discarnate are necessarily wise or powerful entities. They havetheir individuality and their limitations, even as we have, and theselimitations become the more marked when they have to manifest themselvesthrough so foreign a substance as matter.

The Shakers had among them a man of outstanding intelligence named F. W.Evans, who gave a very clear and entertaining account of all thismatter, which may be sought by the curious in the NEW YORK DAILY GRAPHICof November 24, 1874, and has been largely copied into Colonel Olcott'swork, "People From the Other World."

Mr. Evans and his associates after the first disturbance, physical andmental, caused by this spirit irruption, settled down to study what itreally meant. They came to the conclusion that the matter could bedivided into three phases. The first phase was the actual proving to theobserver that the thing was real. The second phase was one ofinstruction, as even the humblest spirit can bring information as to hisown experience of after-death conditions. The third phase was called themissionary phase and was the practical application. The Shakers came tothe unexpected conclusion that the Indians were there not to teach butto be taught. They proselytized them, therefore, exactly as they wouldhave done in life. A similar experience has occurred since then in verymany Spiritualistic circles, where humble and lowly spirits have come tobe taught that which they should have learned in this world had trueteachers been available. One may well ask why the higher spirits overthere do not supply this want? The answer given to the author upon onenotable occasion was, "These people are very much nearer to you than tous. You can reach theta where we fail."

It is clear from this that the good Shakers were never in touch with thehigher guides-possibly they did not need guidance-and that theirvisitors were on a low plane. For seven years these visitationscontinued. When the spirits left they informed their hosts that theywere going, but that presently they would return, and that when they didso they would pervade the world and enter the palace as well as thecottage. It was just four years later that the Rochester knockings brokeout. When they did so, Elder Evans and another Shaker visited Rochesterand saw the Fox sisters. Their arrival was greeted with great enthusiasmfrom the unseen forces, who proclaimed that this was indeed the workwhich had been foretold.

One remark of Elder Evans is worth transcribing. When asked, "Don't youthink your experience is much the same as that of monks and nuns in theMiddle Ages?" he did not answer. "Ours were angelic but these otherswere diabolical," as would have been said had the situation beenreversed, but he replied with fine candour and breadth of mind,"Certainly. That is the proper explanation of them through all the ages.The visions of Saint Theresa were Spiritualistic visions just such as wehave frequently had vouchsafed to the members of our society." Whenfurther asked whether magic and necromancy did not belong to the samecategory, he answered, "Yes. That is when Spiritualism is used forselfish ends." It is clear that there were men living nearly a centuryago who were capable of instructing our wise men of to-day.

That very remarkable woman, Mrs. Hardinge Britten, has recorded in her"Modern American Spiritualism" how she came in close contact with theShaker community, and was shown by them the records, taken at the time,of their spiritual visitation. In them it was stated that the new erawas to be inaugurated by an extraordinary discovery of material as wellas of spiritual wealth. This is a most remarkable prophecy, as it is amatter of history that the goldfields of California were discoveredwithin a very short time of the psychic outburst. A Swedenborg with hisdoctrine of correspondences might perhaps contend that the one wascomplementary to the other.

This episode of the Shaker manifestations is a very distinct linkbetween the Swedenborg pioneer work and the period of Davis and the Foxsisters. We shall now consider the career of the former, which isintimately associated with the rise and progress of the modern psychicmovement.

CHAPTER III

THE PROPHET OF THE NEW REVELATION

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS was one of the most remarkable men of whom we haveany exact record. Born in 1826 on the banks of the Hudson, his motherwas an uneducated woman, with a visionary turn which was allied tovulgar superstition, while his father was a drunken worker in leather.He has written the details of his own childhood in a curious book, "TheMagic Staff," which brings home to us the primitive and yet forcefullife of the American provinces in the first half of last century. Thepeople were rude and uneducated, but their spiritual side was very muchalive, and they seem to have been reaching out continually for some newthing. It was in these country districts of New York in the space of afew years that both Mormonism and modern Spiritualism were evolved.

There never could have been a lad with fewer natural advantages thanDavis. He was feeble in body and starved in mind. Outside an occasionalschool primer he could only recall one book that he had ever read up tohis sixteenth year. Yet in that poor entity there lurked such spiritualforces that before he was twenty he had written one of the most profoundand original books of philosophy ever produced. Could there be a clearerproof that nothing came from himself, and that he was but a conduit pipethrough which flowed the knowledge of that vast reservoir which findssuch inexplicable outlets? The valour of a Joan of Arc, the sanctity ofa Theresa, the wisdom of a Jackson Davis, the supernormal powers of aDaniel Home, all come from the same source.

In his later boyhood, Davis's latent psychic powers began to develop.Like Joan, he heard voices in the fields-gentle voices which gave himgood advice and comfort. Clairvoyance followed this clairaudience. Atthe time of his mother's death, he had a striking vision of a lovelyhome in a land of brightness which he conjectured to be the place towhich his mother had gone. His full capacity was tapped, however, by thechance that a travelling showman who exhibited the wonders of mesmerismcame to the village and experimented upon Davis, as well as on manyother young rustics who desired to experience the sensation. It was soonfound that Davis had very remarkable clairvoyant powers.

These were developed not by the peripatetic mesmerist, but by a localtailor named Levingston, who seems to have been a pioneer thinker. Hewas so intrigued by the wonderful gifts of his subject, that heabandoned his prosperous business and devoted his whole time to workingwith Davis and to using his clairvoyant powers for the diagnosis ofdisease. Davis had developed the power, common among psychics, of seeingwithout the eyes, including things which could not be seen in any caseby human vision. At first, the gift was used as a sort of amusement inreading the letters or the watches of the assembled rustics when hiseyes were bandaged. In such cases all parts of the body can assume thefunction of sight, and the reason probably is that the etheric orspiritual body, which possesses the same organs as the physical, iswholly or partially disengaged, and that it registers the impression.Since it might assume any posture, or might turn completely round, onewould naturally get vision from any angle, and an explanation isfurnished of such cases as the author met in the north of England, whereTom Tyrrell, the famous medium, used to walk round a room, admiring thepictures, with the back of his head turned towards the walls on whichthey were hung. Whether in such cases the etheric eyes see the picture,or whether they see the etheric duplicate of the picture, is one of themany problems which we leave to our descendants.

Levingston used Davis at first for medical diagnosis. He described howthe human body became transparent to his spirit eyes, which seemed toact from the centre of his forehead. Each organ stood out clearly andwith a special radiance of its own which was dimmed in case of disease.To the orthodox medical mind, with which the author has much sympathy,such powers are suspect as opening a door for quackery, and yet he isbound to admit that all that was said by Davis has been corroboratedwithin his own experience by Mr. Bloomfield, of Melbourne, who describedto him the amazement which he felt when this power came suddenly uponhim in the street, and revealed the anatomy of two persons who werewalking in front of him. So well attested are such powers that it hasbeen not unusual for medical men to engage clairvoyants as helpers indiagnosis. Hippocrates says, "The affections suffered by the body thesoul sees with shut eyes." Apparently, then, the ancients knew somethingof such methods. Davis's ministrations were not confined to those whowere in his presence, but hi; soul or etheric body could be liberated bythe magnetic manipulation of his employer, and could be sent forth likea carrier pigeon with the certainty that it would come home againbearing any desired information. Apart from the humanitarian mission onwhich it was usually engaged it would sometimes roam at will, and he hasdescribed in wonderful passages how he would see a translucent earthbeneath him, with the great veins of mineral beds shining through likemasses of molten metal, each with its own fiery radiance.

It is notable that at this earlier phase of Davis's psychic experiencehe had no memory when he returned from trance of what his impressionshad been. They were registered, however, upon his subconscious mind, andat a later date he recalled them all clearly. For the time he was asource of instruction to others but remained ignorant himself.

Until then his development had been on lines which are not uncommon, andwhich could be matched within the experience of every psychic student.But then there occurred an episode which was entirely novel and which isdescribed in close detail in the autobiography. Put briefly, the factswere these. On the evening of March 6, 1844, Davis was suddenlypossessed by some power which led him to fly from the little town ofPoughkeepsie, where he lived, and to hurry off, in a condition ofsemi-trance, upon a rapid journey. When he regained his clearperceptions he found himself among wild mountains, and there he claimsto have met two venerable men with whom he held intimate and elevatingcommunion, the one upon medicine and the other upon morals. All night hewas out, and when he inquired his whereabouts next morning he was toldthat he was in the Catskill Mountains and forty miles from his home. Thewhole narrative reads like a subjective experience, a dream or a vision,and one would not hesitate to place it as such were it not for thedetails of his reception and the meal he ate upon his return. It is apossible alternative that the flight into the mountains was a realityand the interviews a dream. He claims that he afterwards identified histwo mentors as Galen and Swedenborg, which is interesting as being thefirst contact with the dead which he had ever recognized. The wholeepisode seems visionary, and had no direct bearing upon the lad'sremarkable future.

He felt higher powers stirring within him, and it was remarked to himthat when he was asked profound questions in the mesmeric trance healways replied, "I will answer that in my book." In his nineteenth yearhe felt that the hour for writing the book had come. The mesmericinfluence of Levingston did not, for some reason, seem suited for this,and a Dr. Lyon was chosen as the new mesmerist. Lyon threw up hispractice and went with his singular protege to New York, where theypresently called upon the Rev. William Fishbough to come and act asamanuensis. The intuitional selection seems to have been justified, forhe also at once gave up his work and obeyed the summons. Then, theapparatus being ready, Lyon threw the lad day after day into themagnetic trance, and his utterances were taken down by the faithfulsecretary. There was no money and no publicity in the matter, and eventhe most sceptical critic cannot but admit that the occupation andobjects of these three men were a wonderful contrast to the money-makingmaterial world which surrounded them. They were reaching out to thebeyond, and what can man do that is nobler?

It is to be understood that a pipe can carry no more than its owndiameter permits. The diameter of Davis was very different from that ofSwedenborg. Each got knowledge while in an illuminated state. ButSwedenborg was the most learned man in Europe, while Davis was asignorant a young man as could be found in the State of New York.Swedenborg's revelation was perhaps the greater, though more likely tobe tinged by his own brain. The revelation of Davis was incomparably thegreater miracle.

Dr. George Bush, Professor of Hebrew in the University of New York, whowas one of those present while the trance orations were being takendown, writes:

I can solemnly affirm that I have heard Davis correctly quote the Hebrewlanguage in his lectures, and display a knowledge of geology which wouldhave been astonishing in a person of his age, even if he had devotedyears to the study. He has discussed, with the most signal ability, theprofoundest questions of historical and biblical archeology, ofmythology, of the origin and affinity of language, and the progress ofcivilization among the different nations of the globe, which would dohonour to any scholar of the age, even if in reaching them he had theadvantage of access to all the libraries in Christendom. Indeed, if hehad acquired all the information he gives forth in these lectures, notin the two years since he left the shoemaker's bench, but in his wholelife, with the most assiduous study, no prodigy of intellect of whichthe world has ever heard would be for a moment compared with him, yetnot a single volume or page has he ever read.

Davis has a remarkable pen-picture of himself at that moment. He asks usto take stock of his equipment. "The circumference of his head isunusually small," says he. "If size is the measure of power, then thisyouth's mental capacity is unusually limited. His lungs are weak andunexpanded. He had not dwelt amid refining influences-manners ungentleand awkward. He has not read a book save one. He knows nothing ofgrammar or the rules of language, nor associated with literary orscientific persons." Such was the lad of nineteen from whom there nowpoured a perfect cataract of words and ideas which are open to thecriticism not of simplicity, but of being too complex and too shroudedin learned terms, although always with a consistent thread of reason andmethod beneath them.

It is very well to talk of the subconscious mind, but this has usuallybeen taken as the appearance of ideas which have been received and thensubmerged. When, for example, the developed Davis could recall what hadhappened in his trances during his undeveloped days, that was a clearinstance of the emerging of the buried impressions. But it seems anabuse of words to talk of the unconscious mind when we are dealing withsomething which could never by normal means have reached any stratum ofthe mind, whether conscious or not.

Such was the beginning of Davis's great psychic revelation whichextended eventually over many books and is all covered by the name ofthe "Harmonica Philosophy." Of its nature and its place in psychicteaching we shall treat later.

In this phase of his life Davis claims still to have been under thedirect influence of the person whom he afterwards identified asSwedenborg-a name quite unfamiliar to him at the time. From time to timehe received a clairaudient summons to "go up into the mountain." Thismountain was a hill on the farther bank of the Hudson oppositePoughkeepsie. There on the mountain he claims that he met and spoke witha venerable figure. There seems to have been none of the details of amaterialization, and the incident has no analogy in our psychicexperience, save indeed-and one speaks with all reverence-when theChrist also went up into a mountain and communed with the forms of Mosesand Elias. There the analogy seems complete.

Davis does not appear to have been at all a religious man in theordinary conventional sense, although he was drenched with truespiritual power. His views, so far as one can follow them, were verycritical as regards Biblical revelation, and, to put it at the lowest,he was no believer in literal interpretation. But he was honest,earnest, unvenal, anxious to get the truth and conscious of hisresponsibility in spreading it.

For two years the unconscious Davis continued to dictate his book uponthe secrets of Nature, while the conscious Davis did a littleself-education in New York with occasional restorative visits toPoughkeepsie. He had begun to attract the attention of some seriouspeople, Edgar Allan Poe being one of his visitors. His psychicdevelopment went on, and before he reached his twenty-first year he hadattained a state when he needed no second person to throw him intotrance but could do it for himself. His subconscious memory too was atlast opened, and he was able to go over the whole long vista of hisexperiences. It was at this time that he sat by a dying woman andobserved every detail of the soul's departure, a wonderful descriptionof which is given in the first volume of the "Great Harmonia." Althoughthis description has been issued as a separate pamphlet it is not aswell known as it should be, and a short epitome of it may interest thereader.

He begins by the consoling reflection that his own soul-flights, whichwere death in everything save duration, had shown him that theexperience was "interesting and delightful," and that those symptomswhich appear to be signs of pain are really the unconscious reflexes ofthe body, and have no significance. He then tells how, having firstthrown himself into what he calls the "Superior condition," he thusobserved the stages from the spiritual side. "The material eye can onlysee what is material, and the spiritual what is spiritual," but aseverything would seem to have a spiritual counterpart the result is thesame. Thus when a spirit comes to us it is not us that it perceives butour etheric bodies, which are, however, duplicates of our real ones.

It was this etheric body which Davis saw emerging from its poor outwornenvelope of protoplasm, which finally lay empty upon the bed like theshrivelled chrysalis when the moth is free. The process began by anextreme concentration in the brain, which became more and more luminousas the extremities became darker. It is probable that man never thinksso clearly, or is so intensely conscious, as he becomes after all meansof indicating his thoughts have left him. Then the new body begins toemerge, the head disengaging itself first. Soon it has completely freeditself, standing at right-angles to the corpse, with its feet near thehead, and with some luminous vital band between which corresponds to theumbilical cord. When the cord snaps a small portion is drawn back intothe dead body, and it is this which preserves it from instantputrefaction. As to the etheric body, it takes some little time to adaptitself to its new surroundings, and in this instance it then passed outthrough the open doors. "I saw her pass through the adjoining room, outof the door and step from the house into the atmosphereÉ. Immediatelyupon her emergement from the house she was joined by two friendlyspirits from the spiritual country, and after tenderly recognizing andcommuning with each other the three, in the most graceful manner, beganascending obliquely through the ethereal envelopment of our globe. Theywalked so naturally and fraternally together that I could scarcelyrealize the fact that they trod the air-they seemed to be walking on theside of a glorious but familiar mountain. I continued to gaze upon themuntil the distance shut them from my view."

Such is the vision of Death as seen by A. J. Davis-a very different onefrom that dark horror which has so long obsessed the human imagination.If this be the truth, then we can sympathize with Dr. Hodgson in hisexclamation, "I can hardly bear to wait." But is it true? We can onlysay that there is a great deal of corroborative evidence.

Many who have been in the cataleptic condition, or who have been so illthat they have sunk into deep coma, have brought back impressions veryconsistent with Davis's explanation, though others have returned withtheir minds completely blank. The author, when at Cincinnati in 1923,was brought into contact with a Mrs. Monk, who had been set down as deadby her doctors, and for an hour or so had experienced a post-mortemexistence before some freak of fate restored her to life. She wrote ashort account of her experience, in which she had a vivid remembrance ofwalking out of the room, just as Davis described, and also of the silverthread which continued to unite her living soul to her comatose body. Aremarkable case was reported in LIGHT, also (March 25, 1922), in whichthe five daughters of a dying woman, all of them clairvoyant, watchedand reported the process of their mother's death. There again thedescription of the process was very analogous to that given, and yetthere is sufficient difference in this and other accounts to suggestthat the sequence of events is not always regulated by the same laws.Another variation of extreme interest is to be found in a drawing doneby a child medium which depicts the soul leaving the body and isdescribed in Mrs. De Morgan's "From Matter to Spirit" (p. 121). Thisbook, with its weighty preface by the celebrated mathematician ProfessorDe Morgan, is one of the pioneer works of the spiritual movement inGreat Britain. When one reflects that it was published in 1863 one'sheart grows heavy at the success of those forces of obstruction,reflected so strongly in the Press, which have succeeded for so manyyears in standing between God's message and the human race.

The prophetic power of Davis can only be got over by the sceptic if heignores the record. Before 1856 he prophesied in detail the coining ofthe motor car and of the typewriter. In his book, "The Penetralia,"appears the following:

"Question: Will utilitarianism make any discoveries in other locomotivedirections?"

"Yes; look out about these days for carriages and travelling saloons oncountry roads-without horses, without steam, without any visible motivepower moving with greater speed and far more safety than at present.

Carriages will be moved by a strange and beautiful and simple admixtureof aqueous and atmospheric gases-so easily condensed, so simply ignited,and so imparted by a machine somewhat resembling our engines, as to beentirely concealed and manageable between the forward wheels. Thesevehicles will prevent many embarrassments now experienced by personsliving in thinly populated territories. The first requisite for theseland-locomotives will be good roads, upon which with your engine,without your horses, you may travel with great rapidity. These carriagesseem to me of uncomplicated construction."

He was next asked:

"Do you perceive any plan by which to expedite the art of writing?"

"Yes; I am almost moved to invent an automatic psychographer-that is, anartificial soul-writer. It may be constructed something like a piano,one brace or scale of keys to represent the elementary sounds; anotherand lower tier to represent a combination, and still another for a rapidre-combination; so that a person, instead of playing a piece of music,may touch off a sermon or a poem."

So, too, this seer, in reply to a query regarding what was then termed"atmospheric navigation," felt "deeply impressed" that "the necessarymechanism-to transcend the adverse currents of air, so that we may sailas easily and safely and pleasantly as birds-is dependent on a newmotive power. This power will come. It will not only move the locomotiveon the rail, and the carriage on the country road, but the aerial carsalso, which will move through the sky from country to country."

He predicted the coming of Spiritualism in his "Principles of Nature,"published in 1847, where he says:

It is a truth that spirits commune with one another while one is in thebody and the other in the higher spheres-and this, too, when the personin the body is unconscious of the influx, and hence cannot be convincedof the fact; and this truth will ere long present itself in the form ofa living demonstration. And the world will hail with delight theushering-in of that era when the interiors of men will be opened, andthe spiritual communion will be established such as is now being enjoyedby the inhabitants of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

In this matter Davis's teaching was definite, but it must be admittedthat in a good deal of his work he is indefinite and that it is hardreading, for it is disfigured by the use of long words, and occasionallyhe even invents a vocabulary of his own. It was, however, on a very highmoral and intellectual level, and might be best described as anup-to-date Christianity with Christ's ethics applied to modern problemsand entirely freed from all trace of dogma. "Documentary Religion," asDavis called it, was not in his opinion religion at all. That name couldonly be applied to the personal product of reason and spirituality. Suchwas the general line of teaching, mixed up with many revelations ofNature, which was laid down in the successive books of the "HarmonialPhilosophy" which succeeded "Nature's Divine Revelations," and occupiedthe next few years of his life. Much of the teaching appeared in astrange paper called "The Univercoelum," and much was spread by lecturesin which he laid before the public the results of his revelations.

In his spiritual vision Davis saw an arrangement of the universe whichcorresponds closely with that which Swedenborg had already noted, andwith that afterwards taught by the spirits and accepted by theSpiritualists. He saw a life which resembled that of earth, a life thatmay be called semi-material, with pleasures and pursuits that wouldappeal to our natures which had been by no means changed by death. Hesaw study for the studious, congenial tasks for the energetic, art forthe artistic, beauty for the lover of Nature, rest for the weary ones.He saw graduated phases of spiritual life, through which one slowly roseto the sublime and the celestial. He carried his magnificent visiononward beyond the present universe, and saw it dissolve once more intothe fire-mist from which it had consolidated, and then consolidate oncemore to form the stage on which a higher evolution could take place, thehighest class here starting as the lowest class there. This process hesaw renew itself innumerable times, covering trillions of years, andever working towards refinement and purification. These spheres hepictured as concentric rings round the world, but as he admits thatneither time nor space define themselves clearly in his visions, we neednot take their geography in too literal a sense. The object of life wasto qualify for advancement in this tremendous scheme, and the bestmethod of human advancement was to get away from sin-not only the sinswhich are usually recognized, but also those sins of bigotry, narrownessand hardness, which are very especially blemishes not of the ephemeralflesh but of the permanent spirit. For this purpose the return to simplelife, simple beliefs, and primitive brotherhood was essential. Money,alcohol, lust, violence and priestcraft-in its narrow sense-were thechief impediments to racial progress.

It must be admitted that Davis, so far as one can follow his life, livedup to his own professions. He was very humble-minded, and yet he was ofthe stuff that saints are made of. His autobiography extends only to1857, so that he was little over thirty when he published it, but itgives a very complete and sometimes an involuntary insight into the man.He was very poor, but he was just and charitable. He was very earnest,and yet he was patient in argument and gentle under contradiction. Theworst motives were imputed to him, and he records them with a tolerantsmile. He gives a full account of his first two marriages, which were asunusual as everything else about him, but which reflect nothing butcredit upon him. From the date at which "The Magic Staff" finishes heseems to have carried on the same life of alternate writing andlecturing, winning more and more the ear of the world, until he died inthe year 1910 at the age of eighty-four. The last years of his life hespent as keeper of some small book-store in Boston. The fact that his"Harmonial Philosophy" has now passed through some forty editions in theUnited States is a proof that the seed which he scattered so assiduouslyhas not all fallen upon barren ground.

What is of importance to us is the part played by Davis at thecommencement of the spiritual revelation. He began to prepare the groundbefore that revelation occurred. He was clearly destined to be closelyassociated with it, for he was aware of the material demonstration atHydesville upon the very day when it occurred. From his notes there isquoted the sentence, under the vital date of March 31, 1848: "Aboutdaylight this morning a warm breathing passed over my face and I heard avoice, tender and strong, saying, 'Brother, the good work hasbegun-behold, a living demonstration is born.' I was left wondering whatcould be meant by such a message." It was the beginning of the mightymovement in which he was to act as prophet. His own powers werethemselves supernormal upon the mental side, just as the physical signswere upon the material side. Each supplemented the other. He was, up tothe limit of his capacity, the soul of the movement, the one brain whichhad a clear vision of the message which was heralded in so novel andstrange a way. No man can take the whole message, for it is infinite,and rises ever higher as we come into contact with higher beings, butDavis interpreted it so well for his day and generation that little canbe added even now to his conception.

He had advanced one step beyond Swedenborg, though he had notSwedenborg's mental equipment with which to marshal his results.Swedenborg had seen a heaven and hell, even as Davis saw it and hasdescribed it with fuller detail. Swedenborg did not, however, get aclear vision of the position of the dead and the true nature of thespirit world with the possibility of return as it was revealed to theAmerican seer. This knowledge came slowly to Davis. His strangeinterviews with what he described as "materialized spirits" wereexceptional things, and he drew no common conclusions from them. It waslater when he was brought into contact with actual spiritual phenomenathat he was able to see the full meaning of them. This contact was notestablished at Rochester, but rather at Stratford in Connecticut, whereDavis was a witness of the Poltergeist phenomena which broke out in thehousehold of a clergyman, Dr. Phelps, in the early months of 1850. Astudy of these led him to write a pamphlet, "The Philosophy of SpiritualIntercourse," expanded afterwards to a book which contains much whichthe world has not yet mastered. Some of it, in its wise restraint, mayalso be commended to some Spiritualists. "Spiritualism is useful as aliving demonstration of a future existence," he says. "Spirits haveaided me many times, but they do not control either my person or myreason. They can and do perform kindly offices for those on earth. Butbenefits can only be secured on the condition that we allow them tobecome our teachers and not our masters-that we accept them ascompanions, not as gods to be worshipped." Wise words-and a modernrestatement of the vital remark of Saint Paul that the prophet must notbe subject to his own gifts.

In order to explain adequately the life of Davis one has to ascend tosupernormal conditions. But even then there are alternativeexplanations. When one considers the following undeniable facts:

1. That he claims to have seen and heard the materialized form ofSwedenborg before he knew anything of his teachings.

2. That SOMETHING possessed this ignorant youth, which gave him greatknowledge.

3. That this knowledge took the same broad sweeping universal lineswhich were characteristic of Swedenborg.

4. But that they went one step farther, having added just that knowledgeof spirit power which Swedenborg may have attained after his death.

Considering these four points, then, is it not a feasible hypothesisthat the power which controlled Davis was actually Swedenborg? It wouldbe well if the estimable but very narrow and limited New Church tooksuch possibilities into account. But whether Davis stood alone, orwhether he was the reflection of one greater than himself, the factremains that he was a miracle man, the inspired, learned, uneducatedapostle of the new dispensation. So permanent has been his influencethat the well-known artist and critic Mr. E. Wake Cook, in hisremarkable book "Retrogression in Art,"* harks back to Davis's teachingas the one modern influence which could recast the world. Davis left hismark deep upon Spiritualism. "Summerland," for example, as a name forthe modern Paradise, and the whole system of Lyceum schools with theiringenious organization, are of his devising. As Mr. Baseden Butt hasremarked, "Even to-day the full and final extent of his influence isextremely difficult, if not impossible, to assess."

* HUTCHINSON'S, 1924. OCCULT REVIEW, February, 1925.

CHAPTER IV

THE HYDESVILLE EPISODE

We have now traced various disconnected and irregular uprushes ofpsychic force in the cases which have been set forth, and we come atlast to the particular episode which was really on a lower level thanthose which had gone before, but which occurred within the ken of apractical people who found means to explore it thoroughly and tointroduce reason and system into what had been a mere object of aimlesswonder. It is true that the circumstances were lowly, the actors humble,the place remote, and the communication sordid, being based on no highermotive than revenge. When, however, in the everyday affairs of thisworld one wishes to test whether a telegraphic wire is in operation, onenotices whether a message comes through, and the high or low nature ofthat message is quite a secondary consideration. It is said that thefirst message which actually came through the Transatlantic cable was acommonplace inquiry from the testing engineer. None the less, kings andpresidents have used it since. So it is that the humble spirit of themurdered peddler of Hydesville may have opened a gap into which theangels have thronged. There is good and bad and all that is intermediateon the Other Side as on this side of the veil. The company you attractdepends upon yourself and your own motives.

Hydesville is a typical little hamlet of New York State, with aprimitive population which was, no doubt, half-educated, but wasprobably, like the rest of those small American centres of life, moredetached from prejudice and more receptive of new ideas than any otherset of people at that time. This particular village, situated abouttwenty miles from the rising town of Rochester, consisted of a clusterof wooden houses of a very humble type. It was in one of these, aresidence which would certainly not pass the requirements of a Britishdistrict council surveyor, that there began this development which isalready, in the opinion of many, by far the most important thing thatAmerica has given to the commonweal of the world. It was inhabited by adecent farmer family of the name of Fox-a name which, by a curiouscoincidence, has already been registered in religious history as that ofthe apostle of the Quakers. Besides the father and mother, who wereMethodists in religion, there were two children resident in the house atthe time when the manifestations reached such a point of intensity thatthey attracted general attention. These children were thedaughters-Margaret, aged fourteen, and Kate, aged eleven. There wereseveral other children out in the world, of whom only one, Leah, who wasteaching music in Rochester, need come into this narrative.

The little house had already established a somewhat uncanny reputation.The evidence to this effect was collected and published very shortlyafter the event, and seems to be as reliable as such evidence can be. Inview of the extreme importance of everything which bears upon thematter, some extracts from these depositions must be inserted, but toavoid dislocation of the narrative the evidence upon this point has beenrelegated to the Appendix. We will therefore pass at once to the time ofthe tenancy of the Fox family, who took over the house on December 11,1847. It was not until the next year that the sounds heard by theprevious tenants began once more. These sounds consisted of rappingnoises. A rap would seem to be the not unnatural sound to be produced byoutside visitors when they wished to notify their presence at the doorof human life and desired that door to be opened for them. Just suchraps (all unknown to these unread farmers) had occurred in England in1661 at the house of Mr. Mompesson, at Tedworth.* Raps, too, arerecorded by Melancthon as having occurred at Oppenheim, in Germany, in1520, and raps were heard at the Epworth Vicarage in 1716. Here theywere once more, and at last they were destined to have the closed dooropen.

* "Saducismus Triumphatus," by Rev. Joseph Glanvil.

The noises do not seem to have incommoded the Fox family until themiddle of March, 1848. From that date onwards they continually increasedin intensity. Sometimes they were a mere knocking; at other times theysounded like the movement of furniture. The children were so alarmedthat they refused to sleep apart and were taken into the bedroom oftheir parents. So vibrant were the sounds that the beds thrilled andshook. Every possible search was made, the husband waiting on one sideof the door and the wife on the other, but the rappings still continued.It was soon noticed that daylight was inimical to the phenomena, andthis naturally strengthened the idea of trickery, but every possiblesolution was tested and failed. Finally, upon the night of March 31there was a very loud and continued outbreak of inexplicable sounds. Itwas on this night that one of the great points of psychic evolution wasreached, for it was then that young Kate Fox challenged the unseen powerto repeat the snaps of her fingers. That rude room, with its earnest,expectant, half-clad occupants with eager upturned faces, its circle ofcandlelight, and its heavy shadows lurking in the corners, might well bemade the subject of a great historical painting. Search all the palacesand chancelleries of 1848, and where will you find a chamber which hasmade its place in history as secure as this little bedroom of a shack?

The child's challenge, though given with flippant words, was instantlyanswered. Every snap was echoed by a knock. However humble the operatorat either end, the spiritual telegraph was at last working, and it wasleft to the patience and moral earnestness of the human race todetermine how high might be the uses to which it was put in the future.Unexplained forces were many in the world, but here was a force claimingto have independent intelligence at the back of it. That was the supremesign of a new departure.

Mrs. Fox was amazed at this development, and at the further discoverythat the force could apparently see as well as hear, for when Katesnapped her fingers without sound the rap still responded. The motherasked a series of questions, the answers to which, given in numerals,showed a greater knowledge of her own affairs than she herselfpossessed, for the raps insisted that she had had seven children,whereas she protested that she had borne only six, until one who haddied early came back to her mind. A neighbour, Mrs. Redfield, was calledin, and her amusement was changed to wonder, and finally to awe, as shealso listened to correct answers to intimate questions.

The neighbours came flocking in as some rumours of these wonders gotabout, and the two children were carried off by one of them, while Mrs.Fox went to spend the night at Mrs. Redfield's. In their absence thephenomena went on exactly the same as before, which disposes once forall of those theories of cracking toes and dislocating knees which havebeen so frequently put forward by people unaware of the true facts.

Having formed a sort of informal committee of investigation, the crowd,in shrewd Yankee fashion, spent a large part of the night of March 31 inplaying question and answer with the unseen intelligence. According toits own account he was a spirit; he had been injured in that house; herapped out the name of a former occupant who had injured him; he wasthirty-one years old at the time of death (which was five years before);he had been murdered for money; he had been buried in the cellar tenfeet deep. On descending to the cellar, dull, heavy thumps, comingapparently from under the earth, broke out when the investigator stoodat the centre. There was no sound at other times. That, then, was theplace of burial! It was a neighbour named Duesler who, first of allmodern men, called over the alphabet and got answers by raps on theletters. In this way the name of the dead man was obtained-Charles B.Rosma. The idea of connected messages was not developed until fourmonths later, when Isaac Post, a Quaker, of Rochester, was the pioneer.These, in very brief outline, were the events of March 31, which werecontinued and confirmed upon the succeeding night, when not fewer than acouple of hundred people had assembled round the house. Upon April 2 itwas observed that the raps came in the day as well as at night.

Such is a synopsis of the events of the night of March 31, 1848, but asit was the small root out of which sprang so great a tree, and as thiswhole volume may be said to be a monument to its memory, it would seemfitting that the story should be given in the very words of the twooriginal adult witnesses. Their evidence was taken within four days ofthe occurrence, and forms part of that admirable piece of psychicresearch upon the part of the local committee which will be describedand commented upon later. Mrs. Fox deposed:

On the night of the first disturbance we all got up, lighted a candleand searched the entire house, the noises continuing during the time,and being heard near the same place. Although not very loud, it produceda jar of the bedsteads and chairs that could be felt when we were inbed. It was a tremulous motion, more than a sudden jar. We could feelthe jar when standing on the floor. It continued on this night until weslept. I did not sleep until about twelve o'clock. On March 30th we weredisturbed all night. The noises were heard in all parts of the house. Myhusband stationed himself outside of the door while I stood inside, andthe knocks came on the door between us. We heard footsteps in thepantry, and walking downstairs; we could not rest, and I then concludedthat the house must be haunted by some unhappy restless spirit. I hadoften heard of such things, but had never witnessed anything of the kindthat I could not account for before.

On Friday night, March 31st, 1848, we concluded to go to bed early andnot permit ourselves to be disturbed by the noises, but try and get anight's rest. My husband was here on all these occasions, heard thenoises, and helped search. It was very early when we went to bed on thisnight-hardly dark. I had been so broken of my rest I was almost sick. Myhusband had not gone to bed when we first heard the noise on thisevening. I had just lain down. It commenced as usual. I knew it from allother noises I had ever heard before. The children, who slept in theother bed in the room, heard the rapping, and tried to make similarsounds by snapping their fingers.

My youngest child, Cathie, said: "Mr. Splitfoot, do as I do," clappingher hands. The sound instantly followed her with the same number ofraps. When she stopped, the sound ceased for a short time. ThenMargaretta said, in sport, "Now, do just as I do. Count one, two, three,four," striking one hand against the other at the same time; and theraps came as before. She was afraid to repeat them. Then Cathie said inher childish simplicity, "Oh, mother, I know what it is. To-morrow isApril-fool day, and it's somebody trying to fool us."

I then thought I could put a test that no one in the place could answer.I asked the noise to rap my different children's ages, successively.Instantly, each one of my children's ages was given correctly, pausingbetween them sufficiently long to individualize them until the seventh,at which a longer pause was made, and then three more emphatic raps weregiven, corresponding to the age of the little one that died, which wasmy youngest child.

I then asked: "Is this a human being that answers my questions socorrectly?" There was no rap. I asked: "Is it a spirit? If it is, maketwo raps." Two sounds were given as soon as the request was made. I thensaid "If it was an injured spirit, make two raps," which were instantlymade, causing the house to tremble. I asked: "Were you injured in thishouse?" The answer was given as before. "Is the person living thatinjured you?"

Answered by raps in the same manner. I ascertained by the same methodthat it was a man, aged thirty-one years, that he had been murdered inthis house, and his remains were buried in the cellar; that his familyconsisted of a wife and five children, two sons and three daughters, allliving at the time of his death, but that his wife had since died. Iasked: "Will you continue to rap if I call my neighbours that they mayhear it too?" The raps were loud in the affirmative.

My husband went and called in Mrs. Redfield, our nearest neighbour. Sheis a very candid woman. The girls were sitting up in bed clinging toeach other, and trembling with terror. I think I was as calm as I amnow. Mrs. Redfield came immediately (this was about half-past seven),thinking she would have a laugh at the children. But when she saw thempale with fright, and nearly speechless, she was amazed, and believedthere was something more serious than she had supposed. I asked a fewquestions for her, and was answered as before. He told her age exactly.She then called her husband, and the same questions were asked andanswered.

Then Mr. Redfield called in Mr. Duesler and wife, and several others.Mr. Duesler then called in Mr. and Mrs. Hyde, also Mr. and Mrs. Jewell.Mr. Duesler asked many questions, and received answers. I then named allthe neighbours I could think of, and asked if any of them had injuredhim, and received no answer. Mr. Duesler then asked questions andreceived answers. He asked: "Were you murdered?" Raps affirmative. "Canyour murderer be brought to justice?" No sound. "Can he be punished bythe law?" No answer. He then said: "If your murderer cannot be punishedby the law, manifest it by raps," and the raps were made clearly anddistinctly. In the same way, Mr. Duesler ascertained that he wasmurdered in the east bedroom about five years ago and that the murderwas committed by a Mr. on a Tuesday night at twelve o'clock; that he wasmurdered by having his throat cut with a butcher knife; that the bodywas taken down to the cellar; that it was not buried until the nextnight; that it was taken through the buttery, down the stairway, andthat it was buried ten feet below the surface of the ground. It was alsoascertained that he was murdered for his money, by raps affirmative.

"How much was it-one hundred?" No rap. "Was it two hundred?" etc., andwhen he mentioned five hundred the raps replied in the affirmative.

Many called in who were fishing in the creek, and all heard the samequestions and answers. Many remained in the house all night. I and mychildren left the house.

My husband remained in the house with Mr. Redfield all night. On thenext Saturday the house was filled to overflowing. There were no soundsheard during day, but they commenced again in the evening. It was saidthat there were over three hundred persons present at the time. OnSunday morning the noises were heard throughout the day by all who cameto the house.

On Saturday night, April 1st, they commenced digging in the cellar; theydug until they carne to water, and then gave it up. The noise was notheard on Sunday evening nor during the night. Stephen B. Smith and wife(my daughter Marie), and my son David S. Fox and wife, slept in the roomthis night.

I have heard nothing since that time until yesterday. In the forenoon ofyesterday there were several questions answered in the usual way byrapping. I have heard the noise several times to-day.

I am not a believer in haunted houses or supernatural appearances. I amvery sorry that there has been so much excitement about it. It has beena great deal of trouble to us. It was our misfortune to live here atthis time; but I am willing and anxious that the truth should be known,and that a true statement should be made. I cannot account for thesenoises; all that I know is that they have been heard repeatedly, as Ihave stated. I have heard this rapping again this (Tuesday) morning,April 4. My children also heard it.

I certify that the foregoing statement has been read to me, and that thesame is true; and that I should be willing to take my oath that it isso, if necessary."

(SIGNED) MARGARET FOX.

APRIL 11, 1848.

STATEMENT BY JOHN D. FOX

I have heard the above statement of my wife, Margaret Fox, read, andhereby certify that the same is true in all its particulars. I heard thesame rappings which she has spoken of, in answer to the questions, asstated by her. There have been a great many questions besides thoseasked, and answered in the same way. Some have been asked a great manytimes, and they have always received the same answers. There has neverbeen any contradiction whatever.

I do not know of any way to account for those noises, as being caused byany natural means. We have searched every nook and corner in and aboutthe house, at different times, to ascertain, if possible, whetheranything or anybody was secreted there that could make the noise, andhave not been able to find anything which would or could explain themystery. It has caused a great deal of trouble and anxiety.

Hundreds have visited the house, so that it is impossible for us toattend to our daily occupations; and I hope that, whether caused bynatural or supernatural means, it will be ascertained soon. The diggingin the cellar will be resumed as soon as the water settles, and then itcan be ascertained whether there are any indications of a body everhaving been buried there; and if there are, I shall have no doubt butthat it is of supernatural origin.

(SIGNED) JOHN D. FOX.

APRIL 11, 1848

The neighbours had formed themselves into a committee of investigation,which for sanity and efficiency might be a lesson to many subsequent researchers. They did not begin by imposing their own conditions, but theystarted without prejudice to record the facts exactly as they foundthem. Not only did they collect and record the impressions of everyoneconcerned, but they actually had the evidence in printed form within amonth of the occurrence. The author has in vain attempted to get anoriginal copy of the pamphlet, "A Report of the Mysterious Noises heardin the House of Mr. John D. Fox," published at Canandaigua, New York,but he has been presented with a facsimile of the original, and it ishis considered opinion that the fact of human survival and power ofcommunication was definitely proved to any mind capable of weighingevidence from the day of the appearance of that document. 71

The statement made by Mr. Duesler, chief of the committee, givesimportant testimony to the occurrence of the noises and jars in theabsence of the Fox girls from the house, and disposes once and for everof all suspicion of their complicity in these events. Mrs. Fox, as wehave seen, referring to the night of Friday, March 31, said: "I and mychildren left the house." Part of Mr. Duesler's statement reads:

I live within a few rods of the house in which these sounds have beenheard. The first I heard anything about them was a week ago last Fridayevening (March 31st). Mrs. Redfield came over to my house to get my wifeto go over to Mrs. Fox's. Mrs. R. appeared to be very much agitated. Mywife wanted me to go over with them, and I accordingly wentÉ. This wasabout nine o'clock in the evening. There were some twelve or fourteenpersons present when I left them. Some were so frightened that they didnot want to go into the room.

I went into the room and sat down on the bed. Mr. Fox asked a questionand I heard the rapping, which they had spoken of, distinctly. I feltthe bedstead jar when the sounds were produced.

The Hon. Robert Dale Owen,* a member of the United States Congress, andformerly American Minister to Naples, supplies a few additionalparticulars in his narrative, written after conversations with Mrs. Foxand her daughters, Margaret and Catharine. Describing the night of March31, 1848, he says ("Footfalls, etc.," p. 287):

* Author of "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another world" (1860), and"The Debatable Land" (1871).

The parents had had the children's beds removed into their bedroom, andstrictly enjoined them not to talk of noises even if they heard them.But scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed and was retiring torest herself when the children cried out, "Here they are again!" Themother chid them, and lay down. Thereupon the noises became louder andmore startling. The children sat up in bed. Mrs. Fox called in herhusband. The night being windy, it suggested itself to him that it mightbe the rattling of the sashes. He tried several, shaking them to see ifthey were loose. Kate, the youngest girl, happened to remark that asoften as her father shook a window-sash the noises seemed to reply.Being a lively child, and in a measure accustomed to what was going on,she turned to where the noise was, snapped her fingers, and called out,"Here, old Splitfoot, do as I do." THE KNOCKING INSTANTLY RESPONDED.That was the very commencement. Who can tell where the end will be?É.Mr. Mompesson, in bed with his little daughter (about Kate's age) whomthe sound seemed chiefly to follow, "observed that it would exactlyanswer, in drumming, anything that was beaten or called for." But hiscuriosity led him no further. Not so Kate Fox. She tried, by silentlybringing together her thumb and forefinger, whether she could stillobtain a response. Yes! It could see, then, as well as hear! She calledher mother. "Only look, mother!" she said, bringing together her fingerand thumb as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless motion,just so often responded the raps.

In the summer of 1848 Mr. David Fox, with the assistance of Mr. HenryBush, Mr. Lyman Granger, of Rochester, and others, resumed digging inthe cellar. At a depth of five feet they found a plank, and furtherdigging disclosed charcoal and quicklime, and finally human hair andbones, which were pronounced by expert medical testimony to belong to ahuman skeleton. It was not until fifty-six years later that a furtherdiscovery was made which proved beyond all doubt that someone had reallybeen buried in the cellar of the Fox house.

This statement appeared in the BOSTON JOURNAL (a non-Spiritualisticpaper) of November 23, 1904, and runs as follows:

Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 22nd, 1904: The skeleton of the man supposed tohave caused the rappings first heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has beenfound in the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and clears themfrom the only shadow of doubt held concerning their sincerity in thediscovery of spirit communication.

The Fox sisters declared they learned to communicate with the spirit ofa man, and that he told them he had been murdered and buried in thecellar. Repeated excavations failed to locate the body and thus giveproof positive of their story.

The discovery was made by school-children playing in the cellar of thebuilding in Hydesville known as the "Spook House," where the Fox sistersheard the wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable citizen ofClyde, who owns the house, made an investigation and found an almostentire human skeleton between the earth and crumbling cellar walls,undoubtedly that of the wandering peddler who, it was claimed, wasmurdered in the east room of the house, and whose body was hidden in thecellar.

Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters, and the notice ofthe discovery will be sent to the National Order of Spiritualists, manyof whom remember having made pilgrimage to the "Spook House," as it iscommonly called. The finding of the bones practically corroborates thesworn statement made by Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848.

There was discovered a peddler's tin box as well as the bones, and thisbox is now preserved at Lilydale, the central country head-quarters ofthe American Spiritualists, to which also the old Hydesville house hasbeen transported.

These discoveries settle the question for ever and prove conclusivelythat there was a crime committed in the house, and that this crime wasindicated by psychic means. When one examines the result of the twodiggings one can reconstruct the circumstances. It is clear that in thefirst instance the body was buried with quicklime in the centre of thecellar. Later the criminal was alarmed by the fact that this place wastoo open to suspicion and he had dug up the body, or the main part ofit, and reburied it under the wall where it would be more out of theway. The work had been done so hurriedly, however, or in such imperfectlight, that some clear traces were left, as has been seen, of theoriginal grave.

Was there independent evidence of such a crime? In order to find it wehave to turn to the deposition of Lucretia Pulver, who served as helpduring the tenancy of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, who occupied the house fouryears before. She describes how a peddler came to the house and how hestayed the night there with his wares. Her employers told her that shemight go home that night.

I wanted to buy some things off the peddler but had no money with me,and he said he would call at our house next morning and sell them to me.I never saw him after this. About three days after this they sent for meto come back. I accordingly came backÉ.

I should think this peddler of whom I have spoken was about thirty yearsof age. I heard him conversing with Mrs. Bell about his family. Mrs.Bell told me that he was an old acquaintance of theirs-that she had seenhim several times before. One evening, about a week after this, Mrs.Bell sent me down to the cellar to shut the outer door. In going acrossthe cellar I fell down near the centre of it. It appeared to be unevenand loose in that part. After I got upstairs, Mrs. Bell asked me what Iscreamed for and I told her. She laughed at me being frightened, andsaid it was only where the rats had been at work in the ground. A fewdays after this, Mr. Bell carried a lot of dirt into the cellar just atnight and was at work there some time. Mrs. Bell told me that he wasfilling up the rat-holes.

A short time after this Mrs. Bell gave me a thimble which she said shehad bought of this peddler. About three months after this I visited herand she said the peddler had been there again and she showed me anotherthimble which she said she had bought from him. She showed me some otherthings which she said she had bought from him.

It is worth noting that a Mrs. Lape in 1847 had claimed to have actuallySEEN an apparition in the house, and that this vision was of amiddle-sized man who wore grey pants, a black frock-coat and black cap.Lucretia Pulver deposed that the peddler in life wore a black frock-coatand light-coloured pants.

On the other hand, it is only fair to add that the Mr. Bell who occupiedthe house at that time was not a man of notorious character, and onewould willingly concede that an accusation founded entirely upon psychicevidence would be an unfair and intolerable thing. It is very different,however, when the proofs of a crime have actually been discovered, andthe evidence then centres merely upon which tenant was in possession atthat particular time. The deposition of Lucretia Pulver assumes vitalimportance in its bearing upon this matter.

There are one or two points about the case which would bear discussion.One is that a man with so remarkable a name as Charles B. Rosma shouldnever have been traced, considering all the publicity which the caseacquired. This would certainly at the time have appeared a formidableobjection, but with our fuller knowledge we appreciate how verydifficult it is to get names correctly across. A name apparently is apurely conventional thing, and as such very different from an idea.Every practising Spiritualist has received messages which were correctcoupled with names which were mistaken. It is possible that the realname was Ross, or possibly Rosmer, and that this error preventedidentification. Again, it is curious that he should not have known thathis body had been moved from the centre of the cellar to the wall, whereit was eventually found. We can only record the fact without attemptingto explain it.

Again, granting that the young girls were the mediums and that the powerwas drawn from them, how came the phenomena when they had actually beenremoved from the house? To this one can only answer that though thefuture was to show that the power did actually emanate from these girls,none the less it seemed to have permeated the house and to have been atthe disposal of the manifesting power for a time at least when the girlswere not present.

The Fox family were seriously troubled by the disturbances-Mrs. Fox'shair turned white in a week-and as it became apparent that these wereassociated with the two young daughters, these were sent from home. Butin the house of her brother, David Fox, where Margaret went, and in thatof her sister Leah, whose married name was Mrs. Fish, at Rochester,where Catharine was staying, the same sounds were heard. Every effortwas made to conceal these manifestations from the public, but they soonbecame known. Mrs. Fish, who was a teacher of music, was unable tocontinue her profession, and hundreds of people flocked to her house towitness the new marvels. It should be stated that either this power wascontagious, or else it was descending upon many individualsindependently from some common source. Thus Mrs. Leah Fish, the eldersister, received it, though in a less degree than Kate or Margaret. Butit was no longer confined to the Fox family. It was like some psychiccloud descending from on high and showing itself on those persons whowere susceptible. Similar sounds were heard in the home of Rev. A. H.Jervis, a Methodist minister, living in Rochester. Strong physicalphenomena also began in the family of Deacon Hale, of Greece, a townclose to Rochester. A little later Mrs. Sarah A. Tamlin and Mrs.Benedict, of Auburn, developed remarkable mediumship. Mr. Capron, thefirst historian of the movement, describes Mrs. Tamlin as one of themost reliable mediums he had ever met, and says that though the soundsoccurring in her presence were not so loud as those with the Fox family,the messages were equally trustworthy.

It speedily became evident, then, that these unseen forces were nolonger attached to any building, but that they had transferredthemselves to the girls. In vain the family prayed with their Methodistfriends that relief would come. In vain also were exorcisms performed bythe clergy of various creeds. Beyond joining with loud raps in theAmens, the unseen presences took no notice of these religious exercises.

The danger of blindly following alleged spirit guidance was clearlyshown some months later in the neighbouring town of Rochester, where aman disappeared under suspicious circumstances. An enthusiasticSpiritualist had messages by raps which announced a murder. The canalwas dragged and the wife of the missing man was actually ordered toenter the canal, which nearly cost her her life. Some months later theabsentee returned, having fled to Canada to avoid a writ for debt. This,as may well be imagined, was a blow to the young cult. The public didnot then understand what even now is so little understood, that deathcauses no change in the human spirit, that mischievous and humorousentities abound, and that the inquirer must use his own instincts andhis own common sense at every turn. "Try the spirits that ye may knowthem." In the same year, in the same district, the truth of this newphilosophy upon the one side, and its limitations and dangers on theother, were most clearly set forth. These dangers are with us still. Thesilly man, the arrogant inflated man, the cocksure man, is always a safebutt. Every observer has had some trick played upon him. The author hashimself had his faith sorely shaken by deception until some compensatingproof has come along to assure him that it was only a lesson which hehad received, and that it was no more fiendish or even remarkable thatdisembodied intelligences should be hoaxers than that the sameintelligence inside a human body should find amusement in the samefoolish way.

The whole course of the movement had now widened and taken a moreimportant turn. It was no longer a murdered man calling for justice. Thepeddler seemed to have been used as a pioneer, and now that he had foundthe opening and the method, a myriad of Intelligences were swarming athis back. Isaac Post had instituted the method of spelling by raps, andmessages were pouring through. According to these the whole system hadbeen devised by the contrivance of a band of thinkers and inventors uponthe spirit plane, foremost among whom was Benjamin Franklin, whose eagermind and electrical knowledge in earth life might well qualify him forsuch a venture. Whether this claim was true or not, it is a fact thatRosma dropped out of the picture at this stage, and that the intelligentknockings purported to be from the deceased friends of those inquirerswho were prepared to take a serious interest in the matter and to gatherin reverent mood to receive the messages. That they still lived andstill loved was the constant message from the beyond, accompanied bymany material tests, which confirmed the wavering faith of the newadherents of the movement. When asked for their methods of working andthe laws which governed them, the answers were from the beginningexactly what they are now: that it was a matter concerned with human andspirit magnetism; that some who were richly endowed with this physicalproperty were mediums; that this endowment was not necessarily allied tomorality or intelligence; and that the condition of harmony wasespecially necessary to secure good results. In seventy odd years wehave learned very little more; and after all these years the primary lawof harmony is invariably broken at the so-called test seances, themembers of which imagine that they have disproved the philosophy whenthey obtain negative or disordered results, whereas they have actuallyconfirmed it.

In one of the early communications the Fox sisters were assured that"these manifestations would not be confined to them, but would go allover the world." This prophecy was soon in a fair way to be fulfilled,for these new powers and further developments of them, which includedthe discerning and hearing of spirits and the movement of objectswithout contact, appeared in many circles which were independent of theFox family. In an incredibly short space of time the movement, with manyeccentricities and phases of fanaticism, had swept over the Northern andEastern States of the Union, always retaining that solid core of actualtangible fact, which might be occasionally simulated by impostors, butalways reasserted itself to the serious investigator who could shakehimself free from preconceived prejudice. Disregarding for the momentthese wider developments, let us continue the story of the originalcircles at Rochester.

The spirit messages had urged upon the small band of pioneers a publicdemonstration of their powers in an open meeting at Rochester-aproposition which was naturally appalling to two shy country girls andto their friends. So incensed were the discarnate Guides by theopposition of their earthly agents that they threatened to suspend thewhole movement for a generation, and did actually desert them completelyfor some weeks. At the end of that time communication was restored andthe believers, chastened by this interval of thought, put themselvesunreservedly into the hands of the outside forces, promising that theywould dare all in the cause. It was no light matter. A few of theclergy, notably the Methodist minister, the Rev. A. H. Jervis, ralliedto their aid, but the majority thundered from their pulpits againstthem, and the snob eagerly joined in the cowardly sport ofheretic-baiting. On November 14, 1849, the Spiritualists held theirfirst meeting at the Corinthian Hall, the largest available inRochester. The audience, to its credit, listened with attention to theexposition of facts from Mr. Capron, of Auburn, the principal speaker. Acommittee of five representative citizens was then selected to examineinto the matter and to report upon the following evening, when themeeting would reassemble. So certain was it that this report would beunfavourable that the ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT is stated to have had itsleading article prepared, with the head-line: "Entire Exposure of theRapping Humbug." The result, however, caused the editor to hold hishand. The committee reported that the raps were undoubted facts, thoughthe information was not entirely correct, that is, the answers toquestions were "not altogether right nor altogether wrong." They addedthat these raps came on walls and doors some distance from the girls,causing a sensible vibration. "They entirely failed to find any means bywhich it could be done."

This report was received with disapproval by the audience, and a secondcommittee from among the dissentients was formed. This investigation wascon ducted in the office of a lawyer. Kate, for some reason, was away,and only Mrs. Fish and Margaret were present. None the less, the soundscontinued as before, though a Dr. Langworthy was introduced to test thepossibility of ventriloquism. The final report was that "the sounds wereheard, and their thorough investigation had conclusively shown them tobe produced neither by machinery nor ventriloquism, though what theagent is they were unable to determine."

Again the audience turned down the report of their own committee, andagain a deputation was chosen from among the most extreme opponents, oneof whom vowed that if he could not find out the trick he would throwhimself over the falls of the Genesee River. Their examination wasthorough to the length of brutality, and a committee of ladies wasassociated with it. The latter stripped the frightened girls, who weptbitterly under their afflictions. Their dresses were then tied tightlyround their ankles and they were placed upon glass and other insulators.The committee was forced to report, "when they were standing on pillowswith a handkerchief tied round the bottom of their dresses, tight to theankles, we all heard the rapping on the wall and floor distinctly." Thecommittee further testified that their questions, some of them mental,had been answered correctly.

So long as the public looked upon the movement as a sort of joke it wasprepared to be tolerantly amused, but when these successive reports putthe matter in a more serious light, a wave of blackguardism swept overthe town, which reached such a pitch that Mr. Willetts, a gallantQuaker, was compelled at the fourth public meeting to declare that "themob of ruffians who designed to lynch the girls should do so, if theyattempted it, over his dead body." There was a disgraceful riot, theyoung women were smuggled out by a back door, and reason and justicewere for the moment clouded over by force and folly. Then, as now, theminds of the average men of the world were so crammed with the thingsthat do not matter that they had no space for the things that do matter.But Fate is never in a hurry, and the movement went on. Many acceptedthe findings of the successive committees as being final, and indeed, itis difficult to see how the alleged facts could have been more severelytested. At the same time, this strong, new, fermenting wine began toburst some of the old bottles into which it was poured to the excusabledisgust of the public.

The many discreet, serious and religious circles were for a seasonalmost obscured by swollen-headed ranters who imagined themselves to bein touch with every high entity from the Apostles downwards, some evenclaiming the direct afflatus of the Holy Ghost and emitting messageswhich were only saved from being blasphemous by their crudity andabsurdity. One community of these fanatics, who called themselves theApostolic Circle of Mountain Cove, particularly distinguished themselvesby their extreme claims and furnished good material for the enemies ofthe new dispensation. The great body of Spiritualists turned away indisapproval from such exaggerations, but were unable to prevent them.Many well-attested supernormal phenomena came to support the failingspirits of those who were distressed by the so excesses of the fanatics.On one occasion, which is particularly convincing and well-reported, twobodies of investigators in separate rooms, at Rochester, on February 20,1850, received the same message simultaneously from some central forcewhich called itself Benjamin Franklin. This double message was: "Therewill be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now lookdark and mysterious to you will be laid plain before your sight.Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be en lightened." Itmust be admitted that, up to now, the prophecy has been only partiallyfulfilled, and it may at the same time be conceded that, with somestartling exceptions, the forecasts of the spirit people have not beenremarkable for accuracy, especially where the element of time isconcerned.

The question has often been asked: "What was the purpose of so strange amovement at this particular time, granting that it is all that it claimsto be?" Governor Tallmadge, a United States senator of repute, was oneof the early converts to the new cult, and he has left it upon recordthat he asked this question upon two separate occasions in two differentyears from different mediums. The answer in each case was almostidentical. The first said: "It is to draw mankind together in harmony,and to convince sceptics of the immortality of the soul." The secondsaid: "To unite mankind and to convince sceptical minds of theimmortality of the soul." Surely this is no ignoble ambition and doesnot justify those narrow and bitter attacks from ministers and the lessprogressive of their flocks from which Spiritualists have up to thepresent day had to suffer. The first half of the definition isparticularly important, for it is possible that one of the ultimateresults of this movement will be to unite religion upon a common basisso strong, and, indeed, so self-sufficient, that the quibbles whichseparate the Churches of to-day will be seen in their true proportionsand will be swept away or disregarded. One could even hope that such amovement might spread beyond the bounds of Christianity and throw downsome of the barriers which stand between great sections of the humanrace.

Attempts to expose the phenomena were made from time to time. InFebruary, 1851, Dr. Austin Flint, Dr. Charles A. Lee, and Dr. C. B.Coventry of the University of Buffalo, published a statement [Capron"Modern Spiritualism, etc.," pp. 310-31.] showing to their ownsatisfaction that the sounds occurring in the presence of the Foxsisters were caused by the snapping of knee joints. It called forth acharacteristic reply in the Press from Mrs. Fish and Margaret Fox,addressed to the three doctors:

As we do not feel willing to rest under the imputation of beingimpostors, we are very willing to undergo a proper and decentexamination, provided we can select three male and three female friendswho shall be present on the occasion. We can assure the public thatthere is no one more anxious than ourselves to discover the origin ofthese mysterious manifestations. If they can be explained on"anatomical" or "physiological" principles, it is due to the world thatthe investigation be made, and that the "humbug" be exposed. As thereseems to be much interest manifested by the public on that subject, wewould suggest that as early an investigation as is convenient would beacceptable to the undersigned.

Ann L. Fish.Margaretta Fox.

The investigation was held, but the results were negative. In anappended note to the doctors' report in the NEW YORK TRIBUNE, the editor(Horace Greeley) observes:

The doctors, as has already appeared in our columns, commenced with theassumption that the origin of the "rapping" sounds MUST be physical, andtheir primary cause the volition of the ladies aforesaid-in short, thatthese ladies were "The Rochester impostors." They appear, therefore, inthe above statement, as the prosecutors of an impeachment, and ought tohave selected other persons as judges and reporters of the trialÉ. It isquite probable that we shall have another version of the matter.

Much testimony in support of the Fox sisters was quickly forthcoming,and the only effect of the professors' "exposure" was to redouble thepublic interest in the manifestations.

There was also the alleged confession of Mrs. Norman Culver, whodeposed, on April 17, 1851, that Catharine Fox had revealed to her thewhole secret of how the raps were produced. It was an entirefabrication, and Mr. Capron published a crushing answer, showing that onthe date when Catharine Fox was supposed to have made the confession toMrs. Culver, she was residing at his house seventy miles distant.

Mrs. Fox and her three daughters began public sittings in New York inthe spring of 1850, at Barnum's Hotel, and they attracted many curiousvisitors. The Press was almost unanimous in denunciation of them. Abrilliant exception to this was found in Horace Greeley, already quoted,who wrote an appreciative article in his paper under his own initials. Aportion of this will be found in the Appendix.

After a return to Rochester, the Fox family made a tour of the WesternStates, and then paid a second visit to New York, when the same intensepublic interest was displayed. They had obeyed the spirits' mandate toproclaim these truths to the world, and the new era that had beenannounced was now ushered in. When one reads the detailed accounts ofsome of these American sittings, and considers the brain power of thesitters, it is amazing to think that people, blinded by prejudice,should be so credulous as to imagine that it was all the result ofdeception. At that time was shown moral courage which has beenconspicuously lacking since the reactionary forces in science and inreligion combined to stifle the new knowledge and to make it dangerousfor its professors. Thus in a single sitting in New York in 1850 we findthat there were gathered round the table the Rev. Dr. Griswold, FenimoreCooper the novelist, Bancroft the historian, Rev. Dr. Hawks, Dr. J. W.Francis, Dr. Marcy, Willis the Quaker poet, Bryant the poet, Bigelow ofthe EVENING POST, and General Lyman. All of these were satisfied as tothe facts, and the account winds up "The manners and bearing of theladies" (I.E. the three Fox sisters) "are such as to create aprepossession in their favour." The world since then has dug up muchcoal and iron; it has erected great structures and it has inventedterrible engines of war, but can we say that it has advanced inspiritual knowledge or reverence for the unseen? Under the guidance ofmaterialism the wrong path has been followed, and it becomesincreasingly clear that the people must return or perish.

CHAPTER V

THE CAREER OF THE FOX SISTERS

For the sake of continuity the subsequent history of the Fox sisterswill now be given after the events at Hydesville. It is a remarkable,and to Spiritualists a painful, story, but it bears its own lesson andshould be faithfully recorded. When men have an honest and whole-heartedaspiration for truth there is no development which can ever leave themabashed or find no place in their scheme.

For some years the two younger sisters, Kate and Margaret, gave seancesat New York and other places, successfully meeting every test which wasapplied to them. Horace Greeley, afterwards a candidate for the UnitedStates presidency, was, as already shown, deeply interested in them andconvinced of their entire honesty. He is said to have furnished thefunds by which the younger girl completed her very imperfect education.

During these years of public mediumship, when the girls were all therage among those who had no conception of the religious significance ofthis new revelation, and who concerned themselves with it purely in thehope of worldly advantage, the sisters exposed themselves to theenervating influences of promiscuous seances in a way which no earnestSpiritualist could justify. The dangers of such practices were not thenso clearly realized as now, nor had it occurred to people that it isunlikely that high spirits would descend to earth in order to advise asto the state of railway stocks or the issue of love affairs. Theignorance was universal, and there was no wise mentor at the elbow ofthese poor pioneers to point the higher and the safer path. Worst ofall, their jaded energies were renewed by the offer of wine at a timewhen one at least of them was hardly more than a child. It is said thatthere was some family predisposition towards alcoholism, but evenwithout such a taint their whole procedure and mode of life were rash tothe last degree. Against their moral character there has never been abreath of suspicion, but they had taken a road which leads todegeneration of mind and character, though it was many years before themore serious effects were manifest.

Some idea of the pressure upon the Fox girls at this time may begathered from Mrs. Hardinge Britten's* description from her ownobservation. She talks of "pausing on the first floor to hear poorpatient Kate Fox, in the midst of a captious, grumbling crowd ofinvestigators, repeating hour after hour the letters of the alphabet,while the no less poor, patient spirits rapped out names, ages and datesto suit all comers." Can one wonder that the girls, with vitalitysapped, the beautiful, watchful influence of the mother removed, andharassed by enemies, succumbed to a gradually increasing temptation inthe direction of stimulants?

* "Autobiography," p. 40.

A remarkably clear light is thrown upon Margaret at this period in thatcurious booklet, "The Love Letters of Dr. Elisha Kane." It was in 1852that Dr. Kane, afterwards the famous Arctic explorer, met Margaret Fox,who was a beautiful and attractive girl. To her Kane wrote those loveletters which record one of the most curious courtships in literature.Elisha Kane, as his first name might imply, was a man of Puritanextraction, and Puritans, with their belief that the Bible representsthe absolutely final word in spiritual inspiration and that theyunderstand what that last word means, are instinctively antagonistic toa new cult which professes to show that new sources and newinterpretations are still available.

He was also a doctor of medicine, and the medical profession is at thesame time the most noble and the most cynically incredulous in theworld. From the first Kane made up his mind that the young girl wasinvolved in fraud, and formed the theory that her elder sister Leah was,for purposes of gain, exploiting the fraud. The fact that Leah shortlyafterwards married a wealthy man named Underhill, a Wall Streetinsurance magnate, does not appear to have modified Kane's views as toher greed for illicit earnings. The doctor formed a close friendshipwith Margaret, put her under his own aunt for purposes of educationwhilst he was away in the Arctic, and finally married her under thecurious Gretna Green kind of marriage law which seems to have prevailedat the time. Shortly afterwards he died (in 1857), and the widow, nowcalling herself Mrs. Fox-Kane, forswore all phenomena for a time, andwas received into the Roman Catholic Church.

In these letters Kane continually reproaches Margaret with living indeceit and hypocrisy. We have very few of her letters, so that we do notknow how far she defended herself. The compiler of the book, though anon-Spiritualist, says: "Poor girl, with her simplicity, ingenuousnessand timidity, she could not, had she been so inclined, have practisedthe slightest deception with any chance of success." This testimony isvaluable, as the writer was clearly intimately acquainted with everyoneconcerned. Kane himself, writing to the younger sister Kate, says: "Takemy advice and never talk of the spirits either to friends or strangers.You know that with all my intimacy with Maggie after a whole month'strial I could make nothing of them. Therefore they are a great mystery."

Considering their close relations, and that Margaret clearly gave Kaneevery demonstration of her powers, it is inconceivable that a trainedmedical man would have to admit after a month that he could make nothingof it, if it were indeed a mere cracking of a joint. One can find noevidence for fraud in these letters, but one does find ample proof thatthese two young girls, Margaret and Kate, had not the least idea of thereligious implications involved in these powers, or of the graveresponsibilities of mediumship, and that they misused their gift in thedirection of giving worldly advice, receiving promiscuous sitters, andanswering comic or frivolous questions. If in such circumstances boththeir powers and their character were to deteriorate, it would notsurprise any experienced Spiritualist. They deserved no better, thoughtheir age and ignorance furnished an excuse.

To realize their position one has to remember that they were little morethan children, poorly educated, and quite ignorant of the philosophy ofthe subject. When a man like Dr. Kane assured Margaret that it was verywrong, he was only saying what was dinned into her ears from everyquarter, including half the pulpits of New York. Probably she had anuneasy feeling that it was wrong, without in the least knowing why, andthis may account for the fact that she does not seem to remonstrate withhim for his suspicions. Indeed, we may admit that AU FOND Kane wasright, and that the proceedings were in some ways unjustifiable. At thattime they were very unvenal themselves, and had they used their gift, asD. D. Home used his, with no relation to worldly things, and for thepurpose only of proving immortality and consoling the afflicted, then,indeed, they would have been above criticism. He was wrong in doubtingtheir gift, but right in looking askance at some examples of their useof it.

In some ways Kane's position is hopelessly illogical. He was on mostintimate and affectionate terms with the mother and the two girls,although if words have any meaning he thought them to be swindlersliving on the credulity of the public. "Kiss Katie for me," he says, andhe continually sends love to the mother. Already, young as they were, hehad a glimpse of the alcoholic danger to which they were exposed by latehours and promiscuous company. "Tell Katie to drink no champagne, and doyou follow the same advice," said he. It was sound counsel, and it wouldhave been well for themselves and for the movement if they had bothfollowed it; but again we must remember their inexperienced youth andthe constant temptations.

Kane was a curious blend of the hero and the prig. Spirit-rapping,unfortified by any of the religious or scientific sanctions which camelater, was a low-down thing, a superstition of the illiterate, and washe, a man of repute, to marry a spirit-rapper? He vacillated over it inan extraordinary way, beginning a letter with claims to be her brother,and ending by reminding her of the warmth of his kisses. "Now that youhave given me your heart, I will be a brother to you," he says. He had avein of real superstition running through him which was far below thecredulity which he ascribed to others. He frequently alludes to the factthat by raising his right hand he had powers of divination and that hehad learned it "from a conjurer in the Indies." Occasionally he is asnob as well as a prig. "At the very dinner-table of the President Ithought of you"; and again: "You could never lift yourself up to mythoughts and my objects. I could never bring myself down to yours." As amatter of fact, the few extracts given from her letters show anintelligent and sympathetic mind. On at least one occasion we find Kanesuggesting deceit to her, and she combating the idea.

There are four fixed points which can be established by the letters:

1. That Kane thought in a vague way that there was trickery;2. That in the years of their close intimacy she never admitted it;3. That he could not even suggest in what the trickery lay;4. That she did use her powers in a way which serious Spiritualistswould deplore.

She really knew no more of the nature of these forces than those aroundher did. The editor says: "She had always averred that she never fullybelieved the rappings to be the work of spirits, but imagined someoccult laws of nature were concerned." This was her attitude later inlife, for on her professional card she printed that people must judgethe nature of the powers for themselves.

It is natural that those who speak of the danger of mediumship, andespecially of physical mediumship, should point to the Fox sisters as anexample. But their case must not be exaggerated. In the year 1871, aftermore than twenty years of this exhausting work, we find them stillreceiving the enthusiastic support and admiration of many leading menand women of the day. It was only after forty years of public servicethat adverse conditions were manifested in their lives, and therefore,without in any way glossing over what is evil, we can fairly claim thattheir record hardly justifies those who allude to mediumship as asoul-destroying profession.

It was in this year 1871 that Kate Fox's visit to England was broughtabout through the generosity of Mr. Charles F. Livermore, a prominentbanker of New York, in gratitude for the consolation he had receivedfrom her wonderful powers, and to advance the cause of Spiritualism. Heprovided for all her needs, and thus removed any necessity for her togive professional sittings. He also arranged for her to be accompaniedby a congenial woman companion.

Miss Fox, taken all in all, is no doubt the most wonderful livingmedium. Her character is irreproachable and pure. I have received somuch through her powers of mediumship during the past ten years which issolacing, instructive and astounding, that I feel greatly indebted toher, and desire to have her taken good care of while absent from herhome and friends.

His further remarks have some bearing possibly on the later sad eventsof her life:

That you may the more thoroughly understand her idiosyncrasies, permitme to explain that she is a sensitive of the highest order and ofchildlike simplicity; she feels keenly the atmospheres of everyone withwhom she is brought in contact, and to that degree that at times shebecomes exceedingly nervous and apparently capricious.

For this reason I have advised her not to sit in dark seances, that shemay avoid the irritation arising from the suspicion of sceptics, merecuriosity-mongers, and lovers of the marvellous.

The perfection of the manifestations to be obtained through her dependsupon her surroundings, and in proportion as she is in rapport orsympathy with you does she seem receptive of spiritual power. Thecommunications through her are very remarkable, and have come to mefrequently from my wife (Estelle), in perfect idiomatic French, andsometimes in Spanish and Italian, whilst she herself is not acquaintedwith any of these languages. You will understand all this, but theseexplanations may be necessary for others. As I have said, SHE WILL NOTGIVE SEANCES AS A PROFESSIONAL MEDIUM, but I hope she will do all thegood she can in furtherance of the great truth, in a quiet way, whileshe remains in England.

Mr. Coleman, who had a sitting with her in New York, says that hereceived one of the most striking evidences of spirit identity that hadever occurred to him in his experience of seventeen years. Mr. CromwellF. Varley, the electrician who laid the Atlantic cable, in his evidencebefore the London Dialectical Society in 1869, spoke of interestingelectrical experiments he made with this medium.

The visit of Kate Fox to England was evidently regarded as a mission,for we find Mr. Coleman advising her to choose only those sitters whoare not afraid to have their names published in confirmation of thefacts they have witnessed. This course seems to have been adopted tosome extent, for there is preserved a fair amount of testimony to herpowers from, among others, Professor William Crookes, Mr. S. C. Hall,Mr. W. H. Harrison (editor of THE SPIRITUALIST), Miss Rosamund Dale Owen(who afterwards married Laurence Oliphant), and the Rev. John PageHopps.

The new-comer began to hold sittings soon after her arrival. At one ofthe first of these, on November 24, 1871, a representative of THE TIMESwas present, and he published a detailed account of the seance, whichwas held jointly with D. D. Home, a close friend of the medium. Thisappeared in an article entitled "Spiritualism and Science," occupyingthree and a half columns of leading type. THE TIMES Commissioner speaksof Miss Fox taking him to the door of the room and inviting him to standby her and to hold her hands, which he did, "when loud thumps seemed tocome from the panels, as if done with the fist. These were repeated atour request any number of times." He mentioned that he tried every testthat he could think of, that Miss Fox and Mr. Home gave everyopportunity for examination, and that their feet and hands were held.

In the course of a leading article on the above report and thecorrespondence that came from it, THE TIMES (January 6, 1873) declaredthat there was no case for scientific inquiry:

Many sensible readers, we fear, will think we owe them an apology foropening our columns to a controversy on such a subject as Spiritualismand thus treating as an open or debatable question what should rather bedismissed at once as either an imposture or a delusion. But even animposture may call for unmasking, and popular delusions however-absurd,are often too important to be neglected by the wiser portion ofmankindÉ. Is there, in reality, anything, as lawyers would say, to go toa jury with? Well, on the one hand, we have abundance of allegedexperience which can hardly be called evidence, and a few depositions ofa more notable and impressive character. On the other hand, we have manyaccounts of convicted impostors, and many authentic reports of preciselysuch disappointments or discoveries as we should be led to expect.

On December 14, 1872, Miss Fox married Mr. H. D. Jencken, a Londonbarrister-at-law, author of "A Compendium of Modern Roman Law," etc.,and honorary general secretary of the Association for the Reform andCodification of the Law of Nations. He was one of the earliestSpiritualists in England.

The SPIRITUALIST, in its account of the ceremony, says that the spiritpeople took part in the proceedings, for at the wedding breakfast loudraps were heard coming from various parts of the room, and the largetable on which stood the wedding-cake was repeatedly raised from thefloor.

A contemporary witness states that Mrs. Kate Fox-Jencken (as she came tobe known) and her husband were to be met in the early 'seventies in goodsocial circles in London. Her services were eagerly sought after byinvestigators.

John Page Hopps describes her at this time as "a small, thin, veryintelligent, but rather simpering little woman, with nice, gentlemanners and a quiet enjoyment of her experiments which entirely savedher from the slightest touch of self-importance or affectation ofmystery."

Her mediumship consisted chiefly of raps (often of great power), spiritlights, direct writing, and the appearance of materialized hands. Fullform materializations, which had been an occasional feature of hersittings in America, were rare with her in England. On a number ofoccasions objects in the seance-room were moved by spirit agency, and insome cases brought from another room.

It was about this time that Professor William Crookes conducted hisinquiries into the medium's powers, and issued that whole-hearted reportwhich is dealt with later when Crookes's early connexion withSpiritualism comes to be discussed. These careful observations show thatthe rappings constituted only a small part of Kate Fox's psychic powers,and that if they could be adequately explained by normal means theywould still leave us amid mysteries. Thus Crookes recounts how, when theonly people present besides himself and Miss Fox were his wife and alady relative "I was holding the medium's two hands in one of mine,while her feet were resting on my feet. Paper was on the table before us,and my disengaged hand was holding a pencil.

"A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and afterhovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand,rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then roseover our heads, gradually fading into darkness.

Many other observers describe similar phenomena with this medium onvarious occasions.

A very extraordinary phase of Mrs. Fox-Jensen's mediumship was theproduction of luminous substances. In the presence of Mrs. MakdougallGregory, Mr. W. H. Harrison, the editor of a London newspaper, andothers, a hand appeared carrying some phosphorescent material, aboutfour inches square, with which the floor was struck and a sitter's facetouched.* The light proved to be cold. Miss Rosamund Dale Owen, in heraccount of this phenomenon, describes the objects as "illuminedcrystals," and says that she has seen no materialization which gave sorealistic a feeling of spirit nearness as did these graceful lights. Theauthor can also corroborate the fact that these lights are usually cold,as on one occasion, with another medium, such a light settled for someseconds upon his face. Miss Owen also speaks of books and smallornaments being carried about, and a heavy musical box, weighing abouttwenty-five pounds, being brought from a side-table. A peculiarity ofthis instrument was that it had been out of order for months and couldnot be used until the unseen forces repaired it and wound it themselves.

* THE SPIRITUALIST, Vol. VIII, p. 299. LIGHT, 1884, p. 170.

Mrs. Jencken's mediumship was interwoven in the texture of her dailylife. Professor Butlerof says that when he paid a morning social call onher and her husband in company with M. Aksakof he heard raps upon thefloor. Spending an evening at the Jenckens' house, he reports that rapswere numerous during tea. Miss Rosamund Dale Owen also refers* to theincident of the medium standing in the street at a shop window with twoladies, when raps joined in the conversation, the pavement vibratingunder their feet. The raps are described as having been loud enough toattract the attention of passers by. Mr. Jencken relates many cases ofspontaneous phenomena in their home life.

A volume could be filled with details of the seances of this medium, butwith the exception of one further record we must be content withagreeing with the dictum of Professor Butlerof, of the University of St.Petersburg, who, after investigating her powers in London, wrote in THESPIRITUALIST (February 4, 1876):

From all that I was able to observe in the presence of Mrs. Jencken, Iam forced to come to the conclusion that the phenomena peculiar to thatmedium are of a strongly objective and convincing nature, and theywould, I think, be sufficient for the most pronounced but HONEST scepticto cause him to reject ventriloquism, muscular action, and every suchartificial explanation of the phenomena.

Mr. H. D. Jencken died in 1881, and his widow was left with two sons.These children showed wonderful mediumship at a very early age,particulars of which will be found in contemporary records.

Mr. S. C. Hall, a well-known literary man and a.prominent Spiritualist,describes a sitting at his house in Kensington on his birthday, May 9,1882, at which his deceased wife manifested her presence:

Many interesting and touching messages were conveyed to me by the usualwriting of Mrs. Jencken. We were directed to put out the light. Thencommenced a series of manifestations such as I have not often seenequalled, and very seldom surpassedÉ. I removed a small handbell fromthe table and held it in my own hand. I felt a hand take it from me,when it was rung in all parts of the room during at least five minutes.I then placed an accordion under the table, whence it was removed, andat a distance of three or four feet from the table round which we wereseated, tunes were played. The accordion was played and the bell wasrung in several parts of the room, while two candles were lit on thetable. It was not, therefore, what is termed a dark sitting, althoughoccasionally the lights were put out. During all the time Mr. Stack heldone of the hands of Mrs. Jencken and I held the other-each frequentlysaying, "I have Mrs. Jencken's hand in mine."

About fifty flowers of heartsease were placed on a sheet of paper beforeme. I had received some heartsease flowers from a friend in the morning,but the vase that contained them was not in the sitting-room. I sent forit and found it intact. The bouquet had not been in the least disturbed.In what is called "Direct Writing" I found these words written in pencilin a very small hand, on a sheet of paper that lay before me, "I havebrought you my token of love." At a sitting some days previously (whenalone with Mrs. Jencken) I had received this message, "On your birthdayI will bring you a token of love."

Mr. Hall adds that he had marked the sheet of paper with his initials,and, as an extra precaution, had torn off one of the corners in such amanner as to ensure recognition.

It is evident that Mr. Hall was greatly impressed by what he had seen.He writes: "I have witnessed and recorded many wonderful manifestations;I doubt if I have seen any more convincing than this; certainly nonemore refined; none that gave more conclusive evidence that pure and goodand holy spirits alone were communicating." He states that he hasconsented to become Mrs. Jencken's "banker," presumably for funds forthe education of her two boys. In view of what afterwards happened tothis gifted medium, there is a sad interest in his concluding words:

I feel confidence approaching certainty that, in all respects, she willso act as to increase and not lessen her power as a medium whileretaining the friendship and trust of the many who cannot but feel forher a regard in some degree resembling (as arising from the same source)that which the New Church accords to Emanuel Swedenborg, and theMethodists render to John Wesley. Assuredly Spiritualists owe to thislady a huge debt for the glad tidings she was largely the instrument,selected by Providence, to convey to them.

We have given this account in some detail because it shows that thegifts of the medium were at this time of a high and powerful order. Afew years earlier, at a seance at her house on December 14, 1873, on theoccasion of the first anniversary of her wedding, a spirit message wasrapped out: "When shadows fall upon you, think of the brighter side." Itwas a prophetic message, for the end of her life was all shadows.

Margaret (Mrs. Fox-Kane) had joined her sister Kate in England in 1876,and they remained together for some years until the very painfulincident occurred which has now to be discussed. It would appear that avery bitter quarrel broke out between the elder sister Leah (now Mrs.Underhill) and the two younger ones. It is probable that Leah may haveheard that there was now a tendency to alcoholism, and may haveinterfered with more energy than tact. Some Spiritualists interferedalso, and incurred the fury of the two sisters by some suggestion thatKate's children should be separated from her.

Looking round for some weapon-any weapon-with which they could injurethose whom they so bitterly hated, it seems to have occurred to them-or,according to their subsequent statement, to have been suggested to them,with promises of pecuniary reward-that if they injured the whole cult byan admission of fraud they would wound Leah and her associates in theirmost sensitive part. On the top of alcoholic excitement and the frenzyof hatred there was added religious fanaticism, for Margaret had beenlectured by some of the leading spirits of the Church of Rome andpersuaded, as Home had been also for a short time, that her own powerswere evil. She mentions Cardinal Manning as having influenced her mindin this way, but her statements are not to be taken too seriously. Atany rate, all these causes combined and reduced her to a state which wasperilously near madness. Before leaving London she had written to theNEW YORK HERALD denouncing the cult, but stating in one sentence thatthe rappings were "the only part of the phenomena that is worthy ofnotice." On reaching New York, where, according to her own subsequentstatement, she was to receive a sum of money for the newspaper sensationwhich she promised to produce, she broke out into absolute ravingagainst her elder sister.

It is a curious psychological study, and equally curious is the mentalattitude of the people who could imagine that the assertions of anunbalanced woman, acting not only from motives of hatred but alsofrom-as she herself stated-the hope of pecuniary reward, could upset thecritical investigation of a generation of observers.

None the less, we have to face the fact that she did actually producerappings, or enable raps to be produced, at a subsequent meeting in theNew York Academy of Music. This might be discounted upon the groundsthat in so large a hall any prearranged sound might be attributed to themedium. More important is the evidence of the reporter of the Herald,who had a previous private performance. He describes it thus:

I heard first a rapping under the floor near my feet, then under thechair in which I was seated, and again under a table on which I wasleaning. She led me to the door and I heard the same sound on the otherside of it. Then when she sat down on the piano stool the instrumentreverberated more loudly and the tap-tap resounded throughout its hollowstructure.

This account makes it clear that she had the noises under control,though the reporter must have been more unsophisticated than mostpressmen of my acquaintance, if he could believe that sounds varyingboth in quality and in position all came from some click within themedium's foot. He clearly did not know how the sounds came, and it isthe author's opinion that Margaret did not know either. That she reallyhad something which she could exhibit is proved, not only by theexperience of the reporter but by that of Mr. Wedgwood, a LondonSpiritualist, to whom she gave a demonstration before she started forAmerica. It is vain, therefore, to contend that there was no basis atall in Margaret's exposure. What that basis was we must endeavour todefine.

The Margaret Fox-Kane sensation was in August and September, 1888-awelcome boon for the enterprising paper which had exploited it. InOctober Kate came over to join forces with her sister. It should beexplained that the real quarrel, so far as is known, was between Kateand Leah, for Leah had endeavoured to get Kate's children taken from heron the grounds that the mother's influence was not for good. Therefore,though Kate did not rave, and though she volunteered no exposures inpublic or private, she was quite at one with her sister in the generalplot to "down" Leah at all costs.

She was the one who caused my arrest last spring (she said) and thebringing of the preposterous charge that I was cruel to my children. Idon't know why it is she has always been jealous of Maggie and me; Isuppose because we could do things in Spiritualism that she couldn't.

She was present at the Hall of Music meeting on October 21, whenMargaret made her repudiation and produced the raps. She was silent onthat occasion, but that silence may be taken as a support of thestatements to which she listened.

If this were indeed so, and if she spoke as reported to the interviewer,her repentance must have come very rapidly. Upon November 17, less thana month after the famous meeting, she wrote to a lady in London, Mrs.Cottell, who was the tenant of Carlyle's old house, this remarkableletter from New York (LIGHT, 1888, p. 619):

I would have written to you before this but my surprise was so great onmy arrival to hear of Maggie's exposure of Spiritualism that I had noheart to write to anyone.

The manager of the affair engaged the Academy of Music, the very largestplace of entertainment in New York City; it was filled to overflowing.

They made fifteen hundred dollars clear. I have often wished I hadremained with you, and if I had the means I would now return to get outof all this.

I think now I could make money in proving that the knockings are notmade with the toes. So many people come to me to ask me about thisexposure of Maggie's that I have to deny myself to them.

They are hard at work to expose the whole thing if they can; but theycertainly cannot.

Maggie is giving public exposures in all the large places in America,but I have only seen her once since I arrived.

This letter of Kate's points to pecuniary temptation as playing a largepart in the transaction. Maggie, however, seems to have soon found thatthere was little money in it, and could see no profit in telling liesfor which she was not paid, and which had only proved that theSpiritualistic movement was so firmly established that it was quiteunruffled by her treachery. For this or other reasons-let us hope withsome final twinges of conscience as to the part she had played-she nowadmitted that she had been telling falsehoods from the lowest motives.The interview was reported in the New York Press, November 20, 1889,about a year after the onslaught.

"Would to God," she said, in a voice that trembled with intenseexcitement, "that I could undo the injustice I did the cause ofSpiritualism when, under the strong psychological influence of personsinimical to it, I gave expression to utterances that had no foundationin fact. This retraction and denial has not come about so much from myown sense of what is right as from the silent impulse of the spiritsusing my organism at the expense of the hostility of the treacheroushorde who held out promises of wealth and happiness in return for anattack on Spiritualism, and whose hopeful assurances were so deceitfulÉ.

"Long before I spoke to any person on this matter, I was unceasinglyreminded by my spirit control what I should do, and at last I have cometo the conclusion that it would be useless for me further to thwarttheir promptingsÉ."

"Has there been no mention of a monetary consideration for thisstatement?"

"Not the smallest; none whatever."

"Then financial gain is not the end which you are looking to?"

"Indirectly, yes. You know that even a mortal instrument in the hands ofthe spirit must have the maintenance of life. This I propose to derivefrom my lectures. Not one cent has passed to me from any person becauseI adopted this course."

"What cause led up to your exposure of the spirit rappings?"

"At that time I was in great need of money, and persons-who for thepresent I prefer not to name-took advantage of the situation; hence thetrouble. The excitement, too, helped to upset my mental equilibrium."

"What was the object of the persons who induced you to make theconfession that you and all other mediums traded on the credulity ofpeople?"

"They had several objects in view. Their first and paramount idea was tocrush Spiritualism, to make money for themselves, and to get up a greatexcitement, as that was an element in which they flourish."

"Was there any truth in the charges you made against Spiritualism?"

"Those charges were false in every particular. I have no hesitation insaying thatÉ."

"No, my belief in Spiritualism has undergone no change. When I madethose dreadful statements I was not responsible for my words. Itsgenuineness is an incontrovertible fact. Not all the Herrmans that everbreathed can duplicate the wonders that are produced through somemediums. By deftness of fingers and smartness of wits they may producewriting on papers and slates, but even this cannot bear closeinvestigation. Materialization is beyond their mental calibre toreproduce, and I challenge anyone to make the 'rap' under the sameconditions which I will. There is not a human being on earth can producethe 'raps' in the same way as they are through me."

"Do you propose to hold seances?"

"No, I will devote myself entirely to platform work, as that will findme a better opportunity to refute the foul slanders uttered by meagainst Spiritualism."

"What does your sister Kate say of your present course?"

"She is in complete sympathy with me. She did not approve my course inthe pastÉ."

"Will you have a manager for your lecture tour?" "No, sir. I have ahorror of them. They, too, treated me most outrageously. Frank Stechenacted shamefully with me. He made considerable money through hismanagement for me, and left me in Boston without a cent. All I got fromhim was five hundred and fifty dollars, which was given to me at thebeginning of the contract."

To give greater authenticity to the interview, at her suggestion thefollowing open letter was written to which she placed her signature:

128, West Forty-third Street,New York City,NOVEMBER 16, 1889.

TO THE PUBLIC.

The foregoing interview having been read over to me I find nothingcontained therein that is not a correct record of my words and truthfulexpression of my sentiments.

I have not given a detailed account of the ways and means which weredevised to bring me under subjection, and so extract from me adeclaration that the spiritual phenomena as exemplified through myorganism were a fraud. But I shall fully atone for this incompletenesswhen I get upon the platform.

The exactness of this interview was testified to by the names of anumber of witnesses, including J. L. O'Sullivan, who was U.S. Ministerto Portugal for twenty-five years. He said, "If ever I heard a womanspeak truth, it was then."

So it may have been, but the failure of her lecture-agent to keep her infunds seems to have been the determining factor.

The statement would settle the question if we could take the speaker'swords at face value, but unfortunately the author is compelled to agreewith Mr. Isaac Funk, an indefatigable and impartial researcher, thatMargaret at this period of her life could not be relied upon.

What is a good deal more to the purpose is that Mr. Funk sat withMargaret, that he heard the raps "all round the room" without detectingtheir origin, and that they spelt out to him a name and address whichwere correct and entirely beyond the knowledge of the medium. Theinformation given was wrong, but, on the other hand, abnormal power wasshown by reading the contents of a letter in Mr. Funk's pocket. Suchmixed results are as puzzling as the other larger problem discussed inthis chapter.

There is one factor which has been scarcely touched upon in thisexamination. It is the character and career of Mrs. Fish, afterwardsMrs. Underhill, who as Leah, the elder sister, plays so prominent a partin the matter. We know her chiefly by her book, " The Missing Link inModern Spiritualism" (Knox & Co., New York, 1885). This book was writtenby a friend, but the facts and documents were provided by Mrs.Underhill, who checked the whole narrative. It is simply and evencrudely put together, and the Spiritualist is bound to conclude that theentities with whom the Fox circle were at first in contact were notalways of the highest order. Perhaps on another plane, as on this, it isthe plebeians and the lowly who carry out spiritual pioneer work intheir own rough way and open the path for other and more refinedagencies. With this sole criticism, one may say that the book gives asure impression of candour and good sense, and as a personal narrativeof one who was so nearly concerned in these momentous happenings, it isdestined to outlive most of our current literature and to be read withclose attention and even with reverence by generations unborn. Thosehumble folk who watched over the new birth-Capron, of Auburn, who firstlectured upon it in public; Jervis, the gallant Methodist minister, whocried, "I know it is true, and I will face the frowning world!"; GeorgeWilletts, the Quaker; Isaac Post, who called the first spiritualmeeting; the gallant band who testified upon the Rochester platformwhile the rowdies were heating the tar-all of them are destined to livein history. Of Leah it can truly be said that she recognized thereligious meaning of the movement far more clearly than her sisters wereable to do, and that she set her face against that use of it for purelyworldly objects which is a degradation of the celestial. The followingpassage is of great interest as showing how the Fox family firstregarded this visitation, and must impress the reader with the sincerityof the writer:

The general feeling of our familyÉwas strongly adverse to all thisstrange and uncanny thing. We regarded it as a great misfortune whichhad fallen upon us; how, whence or why we knew notÉ. We resisted it,struggled against it, and constantly and earnestly prayed fordeliverance from it, even while a strange fascination attached to thesemarvellous manifestations thus forced upon us, against our will, byinvisible agencies and agents whom we could neither resist, control norunderstand. If our will, earnest desires and prayers could haveprevailed or availed, the whole thing would have ended then and there,and the world outside of our little neighbourhood would never have heardmore of the Rochester Rappings, or of the unfortunate Fox family.

These words give the impression of sincerity, and altogether Leah standsforth in her book, and in the evidence of the many witnesses quoted, asone who was worthy to play a part in a great movement.

Both Kate Fox Jencken and Margaret Fox-Kane died in the early 'nineties,and their end was one of sadness and gloom. The problem which theypresent is put fairly before the reader, avoiding the extremes of thetoo sensitive Spiritualist who will not face the facts, and thespecial-pleading sceptics who lay stress upon those parts of thenarrative which suit their purpose and omit or minimize everything else.Let us see, at the cost of a break in our narrative, if any sort ofexplanation can be found which covers the double fact that what thesesisters could do was plainly abnormal, and yet that it was, to someextent at least, under their control. It is not a simple problem, but anexceedingly deep one which exhausts, and more than exhausts, the psychicknowledge which is at this date available, and was altogether beyond thereach of the generation in which the Fox sisters were alive.

The simple explanation which was given by the Spiritualists of the timeis not to be set aside readily-and least readily by those who know most.It was that a medium who ill-uses her gifts and suffers debasement ofmoral character through bad habits, becomes accessible to evilinfluences which may use her for false information or for the defilementof a pure cause. That may be true enough as a CAUSA CAUSANS. But we mustlook closer to see the actual how and why.

The author is of opinion that the true explanation will be found bycoupling all these happenings with the recent investigations of Dr.Crawford upon the means by which physical phenomena are produced. Heshowed very clearly, as is detailed in a subsequent chapter, that raps(we are dealing at present only with that phase) are caused by aprotrusion from the medium's person of a long rod of a substance havingcertain properties which distinguish it from all other forms of matter.This substance has been closely examined by the great Frenchphysiologist, Dr. Charles Richet, who has named it "ectoplasm." Theserods are invisible to the eye, partly visible to the sensitive plate,and yet conduct energy in such a fashion as to make sounds and strikeblows at a distance.

Now, if Margaret produced the raps in the same fashion as Crawford'smedium, we have only to make one or two assumptions which are probablein them selves, and which the science of the future may definitely provein order to make the case quite clear. The one assumption is that acentre of psychic force is formed in some part of the body from whichthe ectoplasm rod is protruded. Supposing that centre to be inMargaret's foot, it would throw a very clear light upon the evidencecollected in the Seybert inquiry. In examining Margaret and endeavouringto get raps from her, one of the committee, with the permission of themedium, placed his hand upon her foot. Raps at once followed. Theinvestigator cried: "This is the most wonderful thing of all, Mrs. Kane.I distinctly feel them in your foot. There is not a particle of motionin your foot, but there is an unusual pulsation."

This experiment by no means bears out the idea of joint dislocation orsnapping toes. It is, however, exactly what one could imagine in thecase of a centre from which psychic power was projected. This power isin material shape and is drawn from the body of the medium, so thatthere must be some nexus. This nexus may vary. In the case quoted it wasin Margaret's foot. It was observed by the Buffalo doctors that therewas a subtle movement of a medium at the moment of a rap. Theobservation was correct, though the inference was wrong. The author hashimself distinctly seen in the case of an amateur medium a slightgeneral pulsation when a rap was given-a recoil, as it were, after thedischarge of force.

Granting that Margaret's power worked in this way, we have now only todiscuss whether ectoplasmic rods can under any circumstances beprotruded at will. So far as the author knows, there are no observationswhich bear directly upon the point. Crawford's medium seems always tohave manifested when in trance, so that the question did not arise. Inother physical phenomena there is some reason to think that in theirsimpler form they are closely connected with the medium, but that asthey progress they pass out of her control and are swayed by forcesoutside herself. Thus the ectoplasm pictures photographed by MadameBisson and Dr. Schrenck Notzing (as shown in his recent book) may intheir first forms be ascribed to the medium's thoughts or memoriestaking visible shape in ectoplasm, but as she becomes lost in trancethey take the form of figures which in extreme cases are endowed withindependent life. If there be a general analogy between the two classesof phenomena, then it is entirely possible that Margaret had somecontrol over the expulsion of ectoplasm which caused the sound, but thatwhen the sound gave forth messages which were beyond her possibleknowledge, as in the case instanced by Funk, the power was no longerused by her but by some independent intelligence.

It is to be remembered that no one is more ignorant of how effects areproduced than the medium, who is the centre of them. One of the greatestphysical mediums in the world told the author once that he had neverwitnessed a physical phenomenon, as he was himself always in trance whenthey occurred; the opinion of any one of the sitters would be morevaluable than his own. Thus in the case of these Fox sisters, who weremere children when the phenomena began, they knew little of thephilosophy of the subject, and Margaret frequently said that she did notunderstand her own results. If she found that she had herself some powerof producing the raps, however obscure the way by which she did it, shewould be in a frame of mind when she might well find it impossible tocontradict Dr. Kane when he accused her of being concerned in it. Herconfession, too, and that of her sister, would to that extent be true,but each would be aware, as they afterwards admitted, that there was agreat deal more which could not be explained and which did not emanatefrom themselves.

There remains, however, one very important point to be discussed-themost important of all to those who accept the religious significance ofthis movement. It is a most natural argument for those who are unversedin the subject to say, "Are these your fruits? Can a philosophy orreligion be good which has such an effect upon those who have had aprominent place in its establishment?" No one can cavil at such anobjection, and it calls for a clear answer, which has often been madeand yet is in need of repetition.

Let it then be clearly stated that there is no more connexion betweenphysical mediumship and morality than there is between a refined ear formusic and morality. Both are purely physical gifts. The musician mightinterpret the most lovely thoughts and excite the highest emotions inothers, influencing their thoughts and raising their minds. Yet inhimself he might be a drug-taker, a dipsomaniac, or a pervert. On theother hand, he might combine his musical powers with an angelic personalcharacter. There is simply no connexion at all between the two things,save that they both have their centre in the same human body.

So it is in physical mediumship. We all, or nearly all, exude a certainsubstance from our bodies which has very peculiar properties. With mostof us, as is shown by Crawford's weighing chairs, the amount isnegligible. With one in 100,000 it is considerable. That person is aphysical medium. He or she gives forth a raw material which can, wehold, be used by independent external forces. The individual's characterhas nothing to do with the matter. Such is the result of two generationsof observation.

If it were exactly as stated, then, the physical medium's characterwould be in no way affected by his gift. Unfortunately, that is tounderstate the case. Under our present unintelligent conditions, thephysical medium is subjected to certain moral risks which it takes astrong and well-guarded nature to withstand. The failures of these mostuseful and devoted people may be likened to those physical injuries, theloss of fingers and hands, incurred by those who have worked with theX-rays before their full properties were comprehended. Means have beentaken to overcome these physical dangers after a certain number havebecome martyrs for science, and the moral dangers will also be met whena tardy reparation will be made to the pioneers who have injuredthemselves in forcing the gates of knowledge. These dangers lie in theweakening of the will, in the extreme debility after phenomenalsittings, and the temptation to gain temporary relief from alcohol, inthe temptation to fraud when the power wanes, and in the mixed andpossibly noxious spirit influences which surround a promiscuous circle,drawn together from motives of curiosity rather than of religion. Theremedy is to segregate mediums, to give them salaries instead of payingthem by results, to regulate the number of their sittings and thecharacter of the sitters, and thus to remove them from influences whichoverwhelmed the Fox sisters as they have done other of the strongestmediums in the past. On the other hand, there are physical mediums whoretain such high motives and work upon such religious lines that theyare the salt of the earth. It is the same power which is used by theBuddha and by the Woman of Endor. The objects and methods of its use arewhat determine the character.

The author has said that there is little connexion between physicalmediumship and morality. One could imagine the ectoplasmic flow being asbrisk from a sinner as from a saint, impinging upon material objects inthe same way and producing results which would equally have the goodeffect of convincing the materialist of forces outside his ken. Thisdoes not apply, however, to internal mediumship, taking the form not ofphenomena but of teaching and messages, given either by spirit voice,human voice, automatic writing, or any other device. Here the vessel ischosen that it may match what it contains. One could not imagine a smallnature giving temporary habitation to a great spirit. One must be a ValeOwen before one gets Vale Owen messages. If a high medium degenerated incharacter, I should expect to find the messages cease or else share inthe degeneration. Hence, too, the messages of a divine spirit such as isperiodically sent to cleanse the world, of a mediaeval saint, of Joan ofArc, of Swedenborg, of Andrew Jackson Davis, or of the humblestautomatic writer in London, provided that the impulse is a true one, arereally the same thing in various degrees. Each is a genuine breath frombeyond, and yet each intermediary tinges with his or her personality themessage which comes through. So, as in a glass darkly, we see thiswondrous mystery, so vital and yet so undefined. It is its verygreatness which prevents it from being defined. We have done a little,but we hand back many a problem to those who march behind us. They maylook upon our own most advanced speculation as elementary, and yet maysee vistas of thought before them which will stretch to the uttermostbounds of their mental vision.

CHAPTER VI

FIRST DEVELOPMENTS IN AMERICA

Having dealt with the history of the Fox family and the problems whichthat history raises, we shall now return to America and note the firsteffects of this invasion from another sphere of being.

These effects were not entirely excellent. There were follies on thepart of individuals and extravagances on that of communities.

One of these, based on communications received through the mediumship ofMrs. Benedict, was the Apostolic Circle. It was started by a small groupof men, strong believers in a second advent, who sought through spiritcommunications to confirm that belief. They obtained what theyproclaimed to be communications from Apostles and prophets of the Bible.In 1849 James L. Scott, a Seventh Day Baptist minister of Brooklyn,joined this circle at Auburn, which now became known as the ApostolicMovement, and its spiritual leader was said to be the Apostle Paul.Scott was joined by the Rev. Thomas Lake Harris, and they established atMountain Cove the religious community which attracted a strongfollowing, until after some years their dupes became disillusioned anddeserted their autocratic leaders.

This man, Thomas Lake Harris, is certainly one of the most curiouspersonalities of whom we have any record, and it is hard to say whetherJekyll or Hyde predominated in his character. He was compounded ofextremes, and everything which he did was outstanding for good or forevil. He was originally a Universalist minister, whence he derived the"Rev." which he long used as a prefix. He broke away from hisassociates, adopted the teachings of Andrew Jackson Davis, became afanatical Spiritualist, and finally, as already stated, claimed to beone of the autocratic rulers of the souls and purses of the colonists ofMountain Cove. There came a time, however, when the said colonistsconcluded that they were quite capable of looking after their ownaffairs both spiritual and material, so Harris found his vocation gone.He then came to New York and threw himself violently into theSpiritualistic movement, preaching at Dodworth Hall, the head-quartersof the cult, and gaining a great and deserved reputation for remarkableeloquence. His megalomania-possibly an obsession-broke out once more,and he made extravagant claims which the sane and sober Spiritualistsaround him would not tolerate. There was one claim, however, which hecould go to some length in making good, and that was inspiration from avery true and high poetic afflatus, though whether inborn or fromwithout it is impossible to say. While at this stage of his career he,or some power through him, produced a series of poems, "A Lyric of theGolden Age," "The Morning Land," and others, which do occasionally touchthe stars. Piqued by the refusal of the New York Spiritualists to admithis supernal claims, Harris then (1859) went to England, where he gainedfame by his eloquence, shown in lectures which consisted ofdenunciations of his own former colleagues in New York. Each successivestep in the man's life was accompanied by a defilement of the last stepfrom which he had come.

In 1860, in London, Harris's life suddenly assumes a closer interest toBritons, especially to those who have literary affinities. Harrislectured at Steinway Hall, and while there Lady Oliphant listened to hiswild eloquence, and was so affected by it that she brought the Americanpreacher into touch with her son, Laurence Oliphant, one of the mostbrilliant men of his generation. It is difficult to see where theattraction lay, for the teaching of Harris at this stage had nothinguncommon in its matter, save that he seems to have adopted theFather-God and Mother-Nature idea which was thrown out by Davis.Oliphant placed Harris high as a poet, referring to him as "the greatestpoet of the age as yet unknown to fame." Oliphant was no mean judge, andyet in an age which included Tennyson, Longfellow, Browning, and so manymore, the phrase seems extravagant. The end of the whole episode wasthat, after delays and vacillations, both mother and son surrenderedthemselves entirely to Harris, and went forth to manual labour in a newcolony at Brocton in New York, where they remained in a condition whichwas virtual slavery save that it was voluntary. Whether suchself-abnegation is saintly or idiotic is a question for the angels. Itcertainly seems idiotic when we learn that Laurence Oliphant had thegreatest difficulty in getting leave to marry, and expressed humblegratitude to the tyrant when he was at last allowed to do so. He was setfree to report the Franco-German War of 1870, which he did in thebrilliant manner that might be expected of him, and then he returned tohis servitude once more, one of his duties being to sell strawberries inbaskets to the passing trains, while he was arbitrarily separated fromhis young wife, she being sent to Southern California and he retained atBrocton. It was not until the year 1882, twenty years from his firstentanglement, that Oliphant, his mother being then dead, broke theseextraordinary bonds, and after a severe struggle, in the course of whichHarris took steps to have him incarcerated in an asylum, rejoined hiswife, recovered some of his property, and resumed his normal life. Hedrew the prophet Harris in his book "Masollam," written in his lateryears, and the result is so characteristic both of Oliphant's brilliantword-painting and of the extraordinary man whom he painted, that thereader will perhaps be glad to refer to it in the Appendix.

Such developments as Harris and others were only excrescences on themain Spiritualistic movement, which generally speaking was sane andprogressive. The freaks stood in the way of its acceptance, however, asthe communistic or free love sentiments of some of these wild sects wereunscrupulously exploited by the opposition as being typical of thewhole.

We have seen that though the spiritual manifestations obtained widepublic notice through the Fox girls, they were known long before this.To the pre ceding testimony to this effect we may add that of JudgeEdmonds, who says:* "It is about five years since the subject firstattracted public attention, though we discover now that for the previousten or twelve years there had been more or less of it in different partsof the country, but it had been kept concealed, either from fear ofridicule or from ignorance of what it was." This explains the surprisingnumber of mediums who began to be heard of immediately after thepublicity obtained through the Fox family. It was no new gift theyexhibited, it was only that their courageous action in making it widelyknown made others come forward and confess that they possessed the samepower. Also this universal gift of mediumistic faculties now for thefirst time began to be freely developed. The result was that mediumswere heard of in ever-increasing numbers. In April, 1849, manifestationsoccurred in the family of the Rev. A. H. Jervis, the Methodist ministerof Rochester, in that of Mr. Lyman Granger, also of Rochester, and inthe home of Deacon Hale, in the neighbouring town of Greece. So, too,six families in the adjoining town of Auburn began to developmediumship. In none of these cases had the Fox girls any connexion withwhat took place. So these leaders simply blazed the trail along whichothers followed.

Outstanding features of the next succeeding years were the rapid growthof mediums on every side, and the conversion to a belief in Spiritualismof great public men like Judge Edmonds, ex-Governor Tallmadge, ProfessorRobert Hare, and Professor Mapes. The public support of such well-knownmen gave enormous publicity to the subject, while at the same time itincreased the virulence of the opposition, which now perceived it had todeal with more than a handful of silly, deluded people. Men such asthese could command a hearing in the Press of the day. There was also achange in the character of the spiritual phenomena. In the years 1851-2Mrs. Hayden and D. D. Home were instrumental in making many converts. Weshall have more to say about these mediums in later chapters.

In a communication addressed "To the Public," published in the NEW YORKCOURIER and dated New York, August 1, 1853, Judge Edmonds, a man of highcharacter and clear intellect, gave a convincing account of his ownexperience. It is a curious thing that the United States, which at thattime gave conspicuous evidence of moral courage in its leading citizens,has seemed to fall behind in recent years in this respect, for theauthor in his recent journeys there found many who were aware of psychictruth and yet shrank in the face of a jeering Press from publishingtheir convictions.

Judge Edmonds, in the article alluded to, began by detailing the trainof events which caused him to form his opinions. It is dwelt upon herein some detail, because it is very important as showing the basis onwhich a highly educated than received the new teaching:

It was January 1851 that my attention was first called to the subject of"spiritual intercourse." I was at the time withdrawn from generalsociety; I was labouring under great depression of spirits. I wasoccupying all my leisure in reading on the subject of death and man'sexistence afterward. I had, in the course of my life, read and heardfrom the pulpit so many contradictory and conflicting doctrines on thesubject, that I hardly knew what to believe. I could not, if I would,believe what I did not understand, and was anxiously seeking to know,if, after death, we should again meet with those whom we had loved here,and under what circumstances. I was invited by a friend to witness the"Rochester Knockings." I complied more to oblige her, and to while awaya tedious hour. I thought a good deal on what I witnessed, and Idetermined to investigate the matter and find out what it was. If it wasa deception, or a delusion, I thought that I could detect it. For aboutfour months I devoted at least two evenings in a week and sometimes moreto witnessing the phenomena in all its phases. I kept careful records ofall I witnessed, and from time to time compared them with each other, todetect inconsistencies and contradictions. I read all I could lay myhands on on the subject, and especially all the professed "exposures ofthe humbug." I went from place to place, seeing different mediums,meeting with different parties of persons-often with persons whom I hadnever seen before, and sometimes where I was myself entirelyunknown-sometimes in the dark and sometimes in the light-often withinveterate unbelievers, and more frequently with zealous believers.

In fine, I availed myself of every opportunity that was afforded,thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. I was all this time anunbeliever, and tried the patience of believers sorely by my scepticism,my captiousness, and my obdurate refusal to yield my belief. I sawaround me some who yielded a ready faith on one or two sittings only;others again, under the same circumstances, avowing a determinedunbelief; and some who refused to witness it at all, and yet wereconfirmed unbelievers. I could not imitate either of these parties, andrefused to yield unless upon most irrefragable testimony. At length theevidence came, and in such force that no sane man could withhold hisfaith.

It will thus be seen that this, the earliest outstanding convert to thenew revelation, took the utmost pains before he allowed the evidence toconvince him of the validity of the claims of the spirit. Generalexperience shows that a facile acceptance of these claims is very rareamong earnest thinkers, and that there is hardly any prominentSpiritualist whose course of study and reflection has not involved anovitiate of many years. This forms a striking contrast to thosenegative opinions which are founded upon initial prejudice and thebiased or scandalous accounts of partisan authors.

Judge Edmonds, in the excellent summary of his position given in thearticle already quoted-an article which should have converted the wholeAmerican people had they been ready for assimilation-proceeds to showthe solid basis of his beliefs. He points out that he was never alonewhen these manifestations occurred, and that he had many witnesses. Healso shows the elaborate precautions which he took:

After depending upon my senses, as to these various phases of thephenomenon, I invoked the aid of science, and, with the assistance of anaccomplished electrician and his machinery, and eight or tenintelligent, educated, shrewd persons, examined the matter. We pursuedour inquiries many days, and established to our satisfaction two things:first, that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any personpresent or near us; and, second, that they were not forthcoming at ourwill and pleasure.

He deals faithfully with the alleged "exposures" in newspapers, some ofwhich at long intervals are true indictments of some villain, but whichusually are greater deceptions, conscious or unconscious, of the publicthan the evils which they profess to attack. Thus:

While these things were going on, there appeared in the newspapersvarious explanations and "exposures of the humbug," as they were termed.I read them with care, in the expectation of being assisted in myresearches, and I could not but smile at once at the rashness and thefutility of the explanations. For instance, while certain learnedprofessors in Buffalo were congratulating themselves on having detectedit in the toe and knee joints, the manifestations in this city changedto ringing a bell placed under the table. They were like the solutionlately given by a learned professor in England, who attributes thetipping of tables to a force in the hands which are laid upon them,overlooking the material fact that tables quite as frequently move whenthere is no hand upon them.

Having dealt with the objectivity of the phenomena, the judge nexttouched upon the more important question of their source. He commentedupon the fact that he had answers to mental questions and found that hisown secret thoughts were revealed, and that purposes which he hadprivily entertained had been made manifest. He notes also that he hadheard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French, when they wereignorant of these languages.

This drives him to the consideration of whether these things may not beexplained as the reflection of the mind of some other living humanbeing. These considerations have been exhausted by every inquirer inturn, for Spiritualists do not accept their creed in one bound, but makethe journey step by step, with much timid testing of the path. JudgeEdmonds's epitome of his course is but that which many others havefollowed. He gives the following reasons for negativing this question ofother human minds:

Facts were communicated which were unknown then, but afterward found tobe true; like this, for instance when I was absent last winter inCentral America, my friends in town heard of my whereabouts and of thestate of my health seven times; and on my return, by comparing theirinformation with the entries in my journal it was found to be invariablycorrect. So, in my recent visit to the West my whereabouts and mycondition were told to a medium in this city, while I was travelling onthe railroad between Cleveland and Toledo. So thoughts have been utteredon subjects not then in my mind, and utterly at variance with my ownnotions. This has often happened to me and to others, so as fully toestablish the fact that it was not our minds that gave birth to oraffected the communication.

He then deals with the object of this marvellous development, and hepoints out its overwhelming religious significance on the general lineswith which it is defined in a subsequent chapter of this work. JudgeEdmonds's brain was indeed a remarkable one, and his judgment clear, forthere is very little which we can add to his statement, and perhaps ithas never been so well expressed in so small a compass. As we point toit one can claim that Spiritualism has been consistent from the first,and that the teachers and guides have not mixed their message. It is astrange and an amusing reflection that the arrogant science whichendeavoured by its mere word and glare to crush this upstart knowledgein 1850 has been proved to be essentially wrong on its own ground. Thereare hardly any scientific axioms of that day, the finality of theelement, the indivisibility of the atom, the separate origin of species,which have not been controverted, whereas the psychic knowledge whichwas so derided has steadily held its own, adding fresh facts but nevercontradicting those which were originally put forward.

Writing of the beneficent effects of this knowledge the judge says:

There is that which comforts the mourner and binds up thebroken-hearted; that which smooths the passage to the grave and robsdeath of its terrors; that which enlightens the atheist and cannot butreform the vicious; that which cheers and encourages the virtuous amidall the trials and vicissitudes of life; and that which demonstrates toman his duty and his destiny, leaving it no longer vague and uncertain.

The matter has never been better summed up than that.

There is, however, one final passage in this remarkable document whichcauses some sadness. Speaking of the progress which the movement hadmade within four years in the United States, he says: "There are ten ortwelve newspapers and periodicals devoted to the cause and the spirituallibrary embraces more than one hundred different publications, some ofwhich have already attained a circulation of more than 10,000 copies.Besides the undistinguished multitude there are many men of highstanding and talent ranked among them-doctors, lawyers, and clergymen ingreat numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend presidentof a college, judges of our higher courts, members of Congress, foreignambassadors and ex-members of the United States Senate." In four yearsthe spirit force had done as much as this. How does the matter standto-day? The "undistinguished multitude" has carried bravely on and thehundred publications have grown into many more, but where are the men oflight and leading who point the path? Since the death of ProfessorHyslop it is difficult to point to one man of eminence in the UnitedStates who is ready to stake his career and reputation upon the issue.Those who would have never feared the tyranny of man have shrank fromthe cat-calling of the public Press. The printing-machine has succeededwhere the rack would have failed. The worldly loss in reputation and inbusiness sustained by Judge Edmonds himself, who had to resign his seatupon the Supreme Court of New York, and by many others who testified tothe truth, established a reign of terror which warns the intellectualclasses from the subject. So the matter stands at present.

But the Press, for the moment, was well-disposed and Judge Edmonds'sfamous summing-up, perhaps the finest and most momentous that any judgehas ever delivered, met with respect, if not with concurrence. The NEWYORK COURIER wrote:

The letter from Judge Edmonds, published by us on Saturday, with regardto the so-called spiritual manifestations, coming as it did from aneminent jurist, a man remarkable for his clear common sense in thepractical affairs of life, and a gentleman of irreproachable character,arrested the attention of the community, and is regarded by many personsas one of the most remarkable documents of the day.

The New York EVENING MIRROR said:

John W. Edmonds, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for thisdistrict, is an able lawyer, an industrious judge and a good citizen.For the last eight years occupying without interruption the highestjudicial stations, whatever may be his faults no one can justly accusehim of lack of ability, industry, honesty or fearlessness. No one candoubt his general saneness, or can believe for a moment that theordinary operations of his mind are not as rapid, accurate and reliableas ever. Both by the practitioners and suitors at his bar he isrecognized as the head, in fact and in merit, of the Supreme Court forthis District.

The experience of Dr. Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in theUniversity of Pennsylvania, is also of interest, because he was one ofthe first eminent men of science who, setting out to expose the delusionof Spiritualism, became finally a firm believer. It was in 1853 that, inhis own words, he "felt called upon, as an act of duty to his fellowcreatures, to bring whatever influence he possessed to the attempt tostem the tide of popular madness which, in defiance of reason andscience, was fast setting in favour of the gross delusion calledSpiritualism." A denunciatory letter of his published in the newspapersof Philadelphia, where he lived, was copied by other newspapers all overthe country, and it was made the text of numerous sermons. But, as withSir William Crookes many years later, the jubilation was premature.Professor Hare, though a strong sceptic, was induced to experiment forhimself, and after a period of careful testing he became entirelyconvinced of the spiritual origin of the manifestations. Like Crookes,he devised apparatus for use with mediums. Mr. S. B. Brittan, editor ofTHE SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, gives the following condensed account of someof Hare's experiments:

First, to satisfy himself that the movements were not the works ofmortals, he took brass billiard balls, placed them on zinc plates andplaced the hands of the mediums on the balls and, to his very greatastonishment the tables moved. He next arranged a table to slidebackward and forward, to which attachments were made, causing a disc torevolve containing the alphabet, HIDDEN FROM THE VIEW OF THE MEDIUMS.The letters were variously arranged, out of their regular consecutiveorder, and the spirit was required to place them consecutively or intheir regular places. And behold, it was done! Then followed intelligentsentences which the medium could not see or know the import of till theywere told him.

Again he tried another capital test. The long end of a lever was placedon spiral scales with an index attached and the weight marked; themedium's hand rested on the short end of the beam, where it wasimpossible to give pressure downward, but if pressed it would have acontrary effect and raise the long end; and yet, most astounding, theweight was increased several pounds on the scale.

Professor Hare embodied his careful researches and his views onSpiritualism in an important book published in New York in 1855,entitled "Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations." Inthis (p. 55) he sums up the results of his early experiments as follows:

The evidence of the manifestations adduced in the foregoing narrativedoes not rest upon myself only, since there have been persons presentwhen they were observed, and they have in my presence been repeatedessentially under various modifications in many instances not speciallyalluded to.

The evidence may be contemplated under various phases; first, those inwhich rappings or other noises have been made which could not be tracedto any mortal agency; secondly, those in which sounds were so made as toindicate letters forming grammatical, well-spelt sentences, affordingproof that they were under the guidance of some rational being; thirdly,those in which the nature of the communication has been such as to provethat the being causing them must, agreeably to accompanying allegations,be some known acquaintance, friend, or relative of the inquirer.

Again, cases in which movements have been made of ponderable bodies of anature to produce intellectual communications resembling those obtained,as abovementioned, by sounds.

Although the apparatus by which these various proofs were attained WITHTHE GREATEST POSSIBLE PRECAUTION AND PRECISION, modified them as to themanner, essentially all the evidence which I have obtained tending tothe conclusions above mentioned, has likewise been substantiallyobtained by a great number of observers. Many who never sought anyspiritual communication and have not been induced to enroll themselvesas Spiritualists, will nevertheless not only affirm the existence of thesounds and movements, but also admit their inscrutability.

Mr. James J. Mapes, LL.D., of New York, an agricultural chemist andmember of various learned societies, commenced his investigation intoSpiritualism in order to rescue, as he said, his friends, who were"running to imbecility" over the new craze. Through the mediumship ofMrs. Cora Hatch, afterwards Mrs. Richmond, he received what aredescribed as marvellous scientific answers to his questions. He ended bybecoming a thorough believer, and his wife, who had no artistic talent,became a drawing and painting medium. His daughter had, unknown to him,become a writing medium, and when she spoke to him about thisdevelopment he asked her to give him an exhibition of her power. Shetook a pen and rapidly wrote what professed to be a message fromProfessor Mapes's father. The Professor asked for a proof of identity.His daughter's hand at once wrote: "You may recollect that I gave you,among other books, an Encyclopaedia; look at page 120 of that book, andyou will find my name written there, which you have never seen." Thebook referred to was stored with others at a warehouse. When ProfessorMapes opened the case, which had been undisturbed for twenty-sevenyears, to his astonishment he found his father's name written on page120. It was this incident which first led him to make a seriousinvestigation, for, like his friend Professor Hare, he had up till thattime been a strong materialist.

In April, 1854, the Hon. James Shields presented a memorial,* prayingfor inquiry, to the United States legislature, with thirteen thousandsignatures attached, and with the name of Governor Tallmadge at the headof the list. After a frivolous discussion, in which Mr. Shields, whopresented the petition, referred to the belief held by the petitionersas due to a delusion arising from defective education or deranged mentalfaculties, it was formally agreed that the petition should lie upon thetable. Mr. E. W. Capron has this comment**:

*See Capron, "Modern Spiritualism," pp. 359-363.

** "Modern Spiritualism," p. 375. "Modern Spiritualism," p. 197.

It is not probable that any of the memorialists expected more favourabletreatment than they received. The carpenters and fishermen of the worldare the ones to investigate new truths and make Senates and Crownsbelieve and respect them. It is in vain to look for the reception orrespect of new truths by men in high places.

The first regular Spiritualist organization was formed in New York onJune 10, 1854. It was entitled the "Society for the Diffusion ofSpiritual Knowledge," and included among its members such prominentpeople as Judge Edmonds and Governor Tallmadge, of Wisconsin.

Among the activities of the society was the establishment of a newspapercalled The Christian Spiritualist, and the engagement of Miss Kate Foxto hold daily seances, to which the public were admitted free eachmorning from ten till one o'clock.

Writing in 1855 Capron says:

It would be impossible to state particulars in regard to the spread ofSpiritualism in New York up to the present time. It has become diffusedthroughout the city, and has almost ceased to be a curiosity or a wonderto any. Public meetings are regularly held, and the investigation isconstantly going on, but the days of excitement on the subject havepassed away, and all parties look upon it as, at least, something morethan a mere trick. It is true that religious bigotry denounces it, butwithout disputing the occurrences, and occasionally a pretended expose'is made for purposes of speculation; but the fact of spiritualintercourse has become an acknowledged fact in the Empire city.

Perhaps the most significant fact of the period we have been consideringwas the development of mediumship in prominent people, as, for instance,Judge Edmonds and Professor Hare. The latter writes*:

* "Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations," p. 54.

Having latterly acquired the powers of a medium in a sufficient degreeto interchange ideas with my spirit friends, I am no longer under thenecessity of defending media from the charge of falsehood and deception.It is now my own character only that can be in question.

It is not within the scope of this work to deal with the great number ofindividual cases of mediumship, some of them most dramatic andinteresting, which occurred during this first period of demonstration.The reader is referred to Mrs. Hardinge Britten's two importantcompilations, "Modern American Spiritualism" and "Nineteenth CenturyMiracles," books which will always be a most valuable record of earlydays. The series of phenomenal cases was so great that Mrs. Britten hascounted over five thousand separate instances recorded in the Press inthe first few years, which probably represents some hundreds ofthousands not so recorded. Religion so-called and Science so-calledunited for once in an unholy attempt to misrepresent and persecute thenew truth and its supporters, while the Press unfortunately found thatits interest lay in playing up to the prejudices of the majority of itssubscribers. It was easy to do this, for naturally, in so vital andcompelling a movement, there were some who became fanatical, some whothrew discredit upon their opinions by their actions, and some who tookadvantage of the general interest to imitate, with more or less success,the real gifts of the spirit. These fraudulent rascals were sometimesmere cold-blooded swindlers, and sometimes seem to have been realmediums whose psychic power had for a time deserted them. There werescandals and exposures, some real and some pretended. These exposureswere then, as now, due often to the Spiritualists themselves, whostrongly objected to their sacred ceremonies being a screen for thehypocrisies and blasphemies of those villains who, like human hyenas,tried to make a fraudulent living out of the dead. The general resultwas to take the edge off the first fine enthusiasm, and to set back theacceptance of what was true by an eternal harping on what was false.

The brave report of Professor Hare led to a disgraceful persecution ofthat venerable savant, who was at that moment, with the exception ofAgassiz, the best-known man of science in America. The professors ofHarvard-a university which has a most unenviable record in psychicmatters-passed a resolution denouncing him and his "insane adherence toa gigantic humbug." He could not lose his professorial chair atPennsylvania University because that had been already resigned, but hesuffered much in loss of reputation.

The crowning and most absurd instance of scientific intolerance-anintolerance which has always been as violent and unreasonable as that ofthe mediaeval Church-was shown by the American Scientific Association.This learned body howled down Professor Hare when he attempted toaddress them, and put it on record that the subject was unworthy oftheir attention. It was remarked, however, by the Spiritualists, thatthe same society at the same session held an animated debate as to whycocks crow between twelve and one at night, coming finally to theconclusion that at that particular hour a wave of electricity passesover the earth from north to south, and that the fowls, disturbed out oftheir slumbers and "being naturally of a crowing disposition," registerthe event in this fashion. It had not then been learned-and perhaps ithas hardly been learned yet-that a man, or a body of men, may be verywise upon those subjects on which they are experts, and yet show anextraordinary want of common sense when faced with a new propositionwhich calls for a complete readjustment of ideas. British science and,indeed, science the whole world over, have shown the same intoleranceand want of elasticity which marked those early days in America.

These days have been drawn so fully by Mrs. Hardinge Britten, whoherself played a large part in them, that those who are interested canalways follow them in her pages. Some notes about Mrs. Britten herselfmay, however, be fitly introduced at this place, for no history ofSpiritualism could be complete without an account of this remarkablewoman who has been called the female St. Paul of the movement. She was ayoung Englishwoman who had gone to New York with a theatrical company,and had then, with her mother, remained in America. Being strictlyEvangelical she was much repelled by what she considered the unorthodoxviews of Spiritualists, and fled in horror from her first seance. Later,in 1856, she was again brought into contact with the subject andreceived proofs which made it impossible for her to doubt its truth. Shesoon discovered that she was herself a powerful medium, and one of thebest attested and most sensational cases in the early history of themovement was that in which she received intimation that the mail steamerPACIFIC had gone down in mid-Atlantic with all souls, and was threatenedwith prosecution by the owners of the boat for repeating what had beentold her by the returning spirit of one of the crew. The informationproved to be only too true, and the vessel was never heard of again.

Mrs. Emma Hardinge-who became, by a second marriage, Mrs. HardingeBritten-threw her whole enthusiastic temperament into the young movementand left a mark upon it which is still visible. She was an idealpropagandist, for she combined every gift. She was a strong medium, anorator, a writer, a well-balanced thinker and a hardy traveller. Yearafter year she travelled the length and breadth of the United Statesproclaiming the new doctrine amid much opposition, for she was militantand anti-Christian in the views which she professed to get straight fromher spirit guides. As these views were, however, that the morals of theChurches were far too lax and that a higher standard was called for, itis not likely that the Founder of Christianity would have been among hercritics. These opinions of Mrs. Hardinge Britten had more to do with thebroadly Unitarian view of the official Spiritualist bodies, which stillexists, than any other cause.

In 1866 she returned to England, where she worked indefatigably,producing her two great chronicles, "Modern American Spiritualism" and,later, "Nineteenth Century Miracles," both of which show an amazingamount of research together with a very clear and logical mind. In 1870she married Dr. Britten, as strong a Spiritualist as herself. Themarriage seems to have been an ideally happy one. In 1878 they wenttogether as missionaries for Spiritualism to Australia and New Zealand,and stayed there for several years, founding various churches andsocieties which the author found still holding their own when he visitedthe Antipodes forty years later upon the same errand. While in Australiashe wrote her "Faiths, Facts and Frauds of Religious History," a bookwhich still influences many minds. There was at that time undoubtedly aclose connexion between the free thought movement and the new spiritrevelation. The Hon. Robert Stout, Attorney-General of New Zealand, wasboth President of the Free Thought Association and an ardentSpiritualist. It is more clearly understood now, however, that spiritintercourse and teaching are too wide to be fitted into any system,whether negative or positive, and that it is possible for a Spiritualistto profess any creed so long as he has the essentials of reverence tothe unseen and unselfishness to those around him.

Among other monuments of her energy, Mrs. Hardinge Britten founded THETWO WORLDS of Manchester, which has still as large a circulation as anySpiritualistic paper in the world. She passed onwards in 1899, havingleft her mark deep upon the religious life of three continents.

This has been a long but necessary digression from the account of theearly days of American progress. Those early days were marked by greatenthusiasm, much success, and also considerable persecution. All theleaders who had anything to lose lost it. Mrs. Hardinge says:

Judge Edmonds was pointed at in the streets as a crazy Spiritualist.Wealthy merchants were compelled to assert their claims to be consideredsane and maintain their commercial rights by the most firm anddetermined action. Professional men and tradesmen were reduced to thelimits of ruin, and a relentless persecution, originated by the Pressand maintained by the pulpit, directed the full flow of its evil tidesagainst the cause and its representatives. Many of the houses wherecircles were being held were disturbed by crowds who would gathertogether after nightfall and with yells, cries, whistles and occasionalbreaking of windows try to molest the quiet investigators in theirunholy work of "waking the dead," as one of the papers piouslydenominated the act of seeking for the "Ministry of Angels."

Passing the smaller ebb and flow of the movement, the rising of new truemediums, the exposure of occasional false ones, the committees ofinquiry (negatived often by the want of perception of the inquirers thata psychic circle depends for success upon the psychic condition of allits members), the development of fresh phenomena and the conversion ofnew initiates, there are a few outstanding incidents of those early dayswhich should be particularly noted. Prominent among them is themediumship of D. D. Home, and of the two Davenport boys, which form suchimportant episodes, and attracted public attention to such a degree andfor so long a time, that they are treated in separate chapters. Thereare, however, certain lesser mediumships which call for a shorternotice.

One of these was that of Linton, the blacksmith, a man who was quiteilliterate and yet, like A. J. Davis, wrote a remarkable book underalleged spirit control. This book of 530 pages, called "The Healing ofthe Nations," is certainly a remarkable production whatever its source,and it is obviously impossible that it could have been normally producedby such an author. It is adorned by a very long preface from the pen ofGovernor Tallmadge, which shows that the worthy senator was no meanstudent of antiquity. The case from the point of view of the classicsand the early Church has seldom been better stated.

In 1857 Harvard University again made itself notorious by thepersecution and expulsion of a student named Fred Willis, for thepractice of medium ship. It would almost seem that the spirit of CottonMather and the old witch-finders of Salem had descended upon the greatBoston seat of learning, for in those early days it was constantly atissue with those unseen forces which no one can hope to conquer. Thismatter began by an intemperate attempt upon the part of a ProfessorEustis to prove that Willis was fraudulent, whereas all the evidenceshows clearly that he was a true sensitive, who shrank greatly from anypublic use of his powers. The matter caused considerable excitement andscandal at the time. This and other cases of hard usage may be cited,but it must nevertheless be acknowledged that the hope of gain on theone hand, and the mental effervescence caused by so terrific arevelation on the other, did at this period lead to a degree ofdishonesty in some so-called mediums, and to fanatical excesses andgrotesque assertions in others, which held back that immediate successwhich the more sane and steady Spiritualists expected and deserved.

One curious phase of mediumship which attracted much attention was thatof a farmer, Jonathan Koons and his family, living in a wild district ofOhio. The phenomena obtained by the Eddy brothers are discussed at somelength in a subsequent chapter, and as those of the Koons family weremuch on the same lines they need not be treated in detail. The use ofmusical instruments came largely into the demonstrations of spiritforce, and the Koons's log-house became celebrated through all theadjoining states-so celebrated that it was constantly crowded, althoughit was situated some seventy miles from the nearest town. It wouldappear to have been a case of true physical mediumship of a crudequality, as might be expected where a rude uncultured farmer was thephysical centre of it. Many investigations were held, but the factsalways remained untouched by criticism. Eventually, however, Koons andhis family were driven from their home by the persecution of theignorant people among whom they lived. The rude open-air life of thefarmer seems to be particularly adapted to the development of strongphysical mediumship. It was in an American farmer's household that itfirst developed, and Koons in Ohio, the Eddys in Vermont, Foss inMassachusetts, and many others, have shown the same powers.

We may fitly end this short review of the early days in America by anevent where spirit intervention proved to be of importance in theworld's history. This was the instance of the inspired messages whichdetermined the action of Abraham Lincoln at the supreme moment of theCivil War. The facts are beyond dispute, and are given with thecorroborative evidence in Mrs. Maynard's book on Abraham Lincoln. Mrs.Maynard's maiden name was Nettie Colburn, and she was herself theheroine of the story.

The young lady was a powerful trance medium, and she visited Washingtonin the winter of 1862 in order to see her brother who was in thehospital of the Federal Army. Mrs. Lincoln, the wife of the President,who was interested in Spiritualism, had a sitting with Miss Colburn, wasenormously impressed by the result, and sent a carriage next day tobring the medium to see the President. She describes the kindly way inwhich the great man received her in the parlour of the White House, andmentions the names of those who were present. She sat down, passed intothe usual trance, and remembered no more. She continued thus:

For more than an hour I was made to talk to him, and I learned from myfriends afterwards that it was upon matters that he seemed fully tounderstand, while they comprehended very little until that portion wasreached that related to the forthcoming Emancipation Proclamation. Hewas charged with the utmost solemnity and force of manner not to abatethe terms of its issue and not to delay its enforcement as a law beyondthe opening of the year; and he was assured that it was to be thecrowning event of his administration and his life; and that while he wasbeing counselled by strong parties to defer the enforcement of it,hoping to supplant it by other measures and to delay action, he must inno wise heed such counsel, but stand firm to his convictions andfearlessly perform the work and fulfil the mission for which he had beenraised up by an overruling Providence. Those present declared that theylost sight of the timid girl in the majesty of the utterance, thestrength and force of the language, and the importance of that which wasconveyed, and seemed to realize that some strong masculine spirit forcewas giving speech to almost divine commands.

I shall never forget the scene around me when I regained consciousness.I was standing in front of Mr. Lincoln, and he was sitting back in hischair, with his arms folded upon his breast, looking intently at me. Istepped back, naturally confused at the situation-not remembering atonce where I was; and glancing around the group where perfect silencereigned. It took me a moment to remember my whereabouts.

A gentleman present then said in a low tone, "Mr. President, did younotice anything peculiar in the method of address?" Mr. Lincoln raisedhimself, as if shaking off his spell. He glanced quickly at thefull-length portrait of Daniel Webster that hung above the piano, andreplied: "Yes, and it is very singular, very!" with a marked emphasis.

Mr. Somes said: "Mr. President, would it be improper for me to inquirewhether there has been any pressure brought to bear upon you to deferthe enforcement of the Proclamation?" To which the President replied"Under these circumstances that question is perfectly proper, as we areall friends." (Smiling upon the company). "It is taking all my nerve andstrength to withstand such a pressure." At this point the gentlemen drewaround him and spoke together in low tones, Mr. Lincoln saying least ofall. At last he turned to me, and laying his hand upon my head, utteredthese words in a manner I shall never forget. "My child, you possess avery singular gift, but that it is of God I have no doubt. I thank youfor coming here to-night. It is more important than perhaps anyonepresent can understand. I must leave you all now, but I hope I shall seeyou again." He shook me kindly by the hand, bowed to the rest of thecompany, and was gone. We remained an hour longer, talking with Mrs.Lincoln and her friends, and then returned to Georgetown. Such was myfirst interview with Abraham Lincoln, and the memory of it is as clearand vivid as the evening on which it occurred.

This was one of the most important instances in the history ofSpiritualism, and may also have been one of the most important in thehistory of the United States, as it not only strengthened the Presidentin taking a step which raised the whole moral tone of the Northernarmies and put something of the crusading spirit into the men, but asubsequent message urged Lincoln to visit the camps, which he did withthe best effect upon the MORALE of the army. And yet the reader might, Ifear, search every history of the great struggle and every life of thePresident without finding a mention of this vital episode. It is allpart of that unfair treatment which Spiritualism has endured so long.

It is impossible that the United States, if it appreciated the truth,would allow the cult which proved its value at the darkest moment of itshistory to be persecuted and repressed by ignorant policemen and bigotedmagistrates in the way which is now so common, or that the Press shouldcontinue to make mock of the movement which produced the Joan of Arc oftheir country.

CHAPTER VII

THE DAWN IN ENGLAND

The early Spiritualists have frequently been compared with the earlyChristians, and there are indeed many points of resemblance. In onerespect, however, the Spiritualists had an advantage. The women of theolder dispensation did their part nobly, living as saints and dying asmartyrs, but they did not figure as preachers and missionaries. Psychicpower and psychic knowledge are, however, as great in one sex as inanother, and therefore many of the great pioneers of the spiritualrevelation were women. Especially may this be claimed for Emma HardingeBritten, one whose name will grow more famous as the years roll by.There have, however, been several other women missionaries outstanding,and the most important of these from the British point of view is Mrs.Hayden, who first in the year 1852 brought the new phenomena to theseshores. We had of old the Apostles of religious faith. Here at last wasan apostle of religious fact.

Mrs. Hayden was a remarkable woman as well as an excellent medium. Shewas the wife of a respectable New England journalist who accompanied herin her mission, which had been organized by one Stone, who had someexperience of her powers in America.

At the time of her visit she was described as being "young, intelligent,and at the same time simple and candid in her manners." Her Britishcritic added:

She disarmed suspicion by the unaffected artlessness of her address, andmany who came to amuse themselves at her expense were shamed intorespect and even cordiality by the patience and good temper which shedisplayed. The impression invariably left by an interview with her wasthat if, as Mr. Dickens contended, the phenomena developed by her wereattributed to art, she herself was the most perfect artist, as far asacting went, that had ever presented herself before the public.

The ignorant British Press treated Mrs. Hayden as a common Americanadventuress. Her real mental calibre, however, may be judged from thefact that some years later, after her return to the United States, Mrs.Hayden graduated as a doctor of medicine and practised for fifteenyears. Dr. James Rodes Buchanan, the famous pioneer in psychometry,speaks of her as "one of the most skilful and successful physicians Ihave ever known." She was offered a medical professorship in an Americancollege, and was employed by the Globe Insurance Company in protectingthe company against losses in insurance on lives. A feature of hersuccess was what Buchanan describes as her psychometric genius. He addsa unique tribute to the effect that her name was almost forgotten at theBoard of Health because for years she had not a single death to report.

This sequel, however, was beyond the knowledge of the sceptics of 1852,and they cannot be blamed for insisting that these strange claims ofother-world intervention should be tested with the utmost rigour beforethey could be admitted. No one could contest this critical attitude. Butwhat does seem strange is that a proposition which, if true, wouldinvolve such glad tidings as the piercing of the wall of death and atrue communion of the saints, should arouse not sober criticism, howeverexacting, but a storm of insult and abuse, inexcusable at any time, butparticularly so when directed against a lady who was a visitor in ourmidst. Mrs. Hardinge Britten says that Mrs. Hayden no sooner appearedupon the scene than the leaders of the Press, pulpit and collegelevelled against her a storm of ribaldry, persecution and insult, alikedisgraceful to themselves and humiliating to the boasted liberalism andscientific acumen of their age. She added that her gentle womanly spiritmust have been deeply pained, and the harmony of mind so essential tothe production of good psychological results constantly destroyed, bythe cruel and insulting treatment she received at the hands of many ofthose who came, pretending to be investigators, but in reality burningto thwart her, and laying traps to falsify the truths of which Mrs.Hayden professed to be the instrument. Sensitively alive to the animusof her visitors, she could feel, and often writhed under the crushingforce of the antagonism brought to bear upon her, without-at thattime-knowing how to repel or resist it.

At the same time, the whole nation was not involved in this irrationalhostility, which in a diluted form we still see around us. Brave menarose who were not afraid to imperil their worldly career, or even theirreputation for sanity, by championing an unpopular cause with nopossible motive save the love of truth and that sense of chivalry whichrevolted at the persecution of a woman. Dr. Ashburner, one of the Royalphysicians, and Sir Charles Isham, were among those who defended themedium in the public Press.

Mrs. Hayden's mediumship seems, when judged by modern standards, to havebeen strictly limited in type. Save for the raps, we hear little ofphysical phenomena, nor is there any question of lights,materializations or Direct Voices. In harmonious company, however, theanswers as furnished by raps were very accurate and convincing. Like alltrue mediums, she was sensitive to discord in her surroundings, with theresult that the contemptible crew of practical jokers and ill-naturedresearchers who visited her found her a ready victim. Deceit is repaidby deceit and the fool is answered according to his folly, though theintelligence behind the words seems to care little for the fact that thepassive instrument employed may be held accountable for the answer.These pseudo-researchers filled the Press with their humorous accountsof how they had deceived the spirits, when as a fact they had ratherdeceived themselves. George Henry Lewes, afterwards consort of GeorgeEliot, was one of these cynical investigators. He recounts with glee howhe had asked the control in writing: "Is Mrs. Hayden an impostor?" towhich the control rapped out: "Yes." Lewes was dishonest enough to quotethis afterwards as being a confession of guilt from Mrs. Hayden. Onewould rather draw from it the inference that the raps were entirelyindependent of the medium, and also that questions asked in a spirit ofpure frivolity met with no serious reply.

It is, however, by the positives and not by the negatives that suchquestions must be judged, and the author must here use quotations to alarger extent than is his custom, for in no other way can one bring homehow those seeds were first planted in England which are destined to growto such a goodly height. Allusion has already been made to the testimonyof Dr. Ashburner, the famous physician, and it would be well perhaps toadd some of his actual words. He says*:

* THE LEADER, March 14, 1853. June 1 and 8, 1853.

Sex ought to have protected her from injury, if you gentlemen of thePress have no regard to the hospitable feelings due to one of your owncloth, for Mrs. Hayden is the wife of a former editor and proprietor ofa journal in Boston having a most extensive circulation in New England.I declare to you that Mrs. Hayden is no impostor, and he who has thedaring to come to an opposite conclusion must do so at the peril of hischaracter for truth.

Again, in a long letter to THE REASONER, after admitting that hevisited the medium in a thoroughly incredulous frame of mind, expectingto witness "the same class of transparent absurdities" he had previouslyencountered with other so-called mediums, Ashburner writes: "As for Mrs.Hayden, I have so strong a conviction of her perfect honesty that Imarvel at anyone who could deliberately accuse her of fraud," and at thesame time he gives detailed accounts of veridical communications hereceived.

Among the investigators was the celebrated mathematician andphilosopher, Professor De Morgan. He gives some account of hisexperiences and conclusions in his long and masterly preface to hiswife's book, "From Matter to Spirit," 1863, as follows:

Ten years ago Mrs. Hayden, the well-known American medium, came to myhouse ALONE. The sitting began immediately after her arrival. Eight ornine persons of all ages, and of all degrees of belief and unbelief inthe whole thing being imposture, were present. The raps began in theusual way. They were to my ear clean, clear, faint sounds such as wouldbe said to ring, had they lasted. I likened them at the time to thenoise which the ends of knitting-needles would make, if dropped from asmall distance upon a marble slab, and instantly checked by a damper ofsome kind; and subsequent trial showed that my description was tolerablyaccurateÉ. At a late period in the evening, after nearly three hours ofexperiment, Mrs. Hayden having risen, and talking at another table whiletaking refreshment, a child suddenly called out, "Will all the spiritswho have been here this evening rap together?" The words were no sooneruttered than a hailstorm of knitting-needles was heard, crowded intocertainly less than two seconds; the big needle sounds of the men, andthe little ones of the women and children, being clearlydistinguishable, but perfectly disorderly in their arrival.

After a remark to the effect that for convenience he intends to speak ofthe raps as coming from spirits, Professor De Morgan goes on:

On being asked to put a question to the first spirit, I begged that Imight be allowed to put my question mentally-that is, without speakingit, or writing it, or pointing it out to myself on an alphabet-and thatMrs. Hayden might hold both arms extended while the answer was inprogress. Both demands were instantly granted by a couple of raps. I putthe question and desired the answer might be in one word, which Iassigned; all mentally.

I then took the printed alphabet, put a book upright before it, and,bending my eyes upon it, proceeded to point to the letters in the usualway. The word "chess" was given by a rap at each letter. I had now areasonable certainty of the following alternative: either somethought-reading of a character wholly inexplicable, or such superhumanacuteness on the part of Mrs. Hayden that she could detect the letter Iwanted by my bearing, though she (seated six feet from the book whichhid my alphabet) could see neither my hand nor my eye, nor at what rateI was going through the letters. I was fated to be driven out of thesecond alternative before the sitting was done.

As the next incident of the sitting, which he goes on to relate, isgiven with extra details in a letter written ten years earlier to theRev. W. Heald, we quote this version published in his wife's "Memoir ofAugustus De Morgan" (pp. 221-2):

Presently came MY FATHER (OB., 1816), and after some conversation I wenton as follows:

"Do you remember a periodical I have in my head?" "Yes." "Do youremember the epithets therein applied to yourself?" "Yes." "Will yougive me the initials of them by the card?" "Yes." I then began pointingto the alphabet, with a book to conceal the card, Mrs. H. being at theopposite side of a round table (large), and a bright lamp between us. Ipointed letter by letter till I came to F, which I thought should be thefirst initial. No rapping. The people round me said, "You have passedit; there was a rapping at the beginning." I went back and heard therapping distinctly at C. This puzzled me, but in a moment I saw what itwas. The sentence was begun by the rapping agency earlier than Iintended. I allowed C to pass, and then got D T F O C, being theinitials of the consecutive words which I remembered to have beenapplied to my father in an old review published in 1817, which no one inthe room had ever heard of but myself. C D T F O C was all right, andwhen I got so far I gave it up, perfectly satisfied that something, orsomebody, or some spirit, was reading my thoughts. This and the likewent on for nearly three hours, during a great part of which Mrs. H. wasbusy reading the "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin," which she had never seenbefore, and I assure you she set to it with just as much avidity as youmay suppose an American lady would who saw it for the first time, whilewe were amusing ourselves with the raps in our own way. All this Ideclare to be literally true. Since that time I have seen it in my housefrequently, various persons presenting themselves. The answers are givenmostly by the table, on which a hand or two is gently placed, tilting upat the letters. There is much which is confused in the answers, butevery now and then comes something which surprises us. I have no theoryabout it, but in a year or two something curious may turn up. I am,however, satisfied of the reality of the phenomenon. A great many otherpersons are as cognizant of these phenomena in their own houses asmyself. Make what you can of it if you are a philosopher.

When Professor De Morgan says that some spirit was reading his thoughts,he omits to observe that the incident of the first letter was evidenceof something that was not in his mind. Also, from Mrs. Hayden's attitudethroughout the seance, it is clear that it was her atmosphere ratherthan her actual conscious personality which was concerned. Some furtherimportant evidence from the De Morgans is relegated to the Appendix.

Mrs. Fitzgerald, a well-known figure in the early days of Spiritualismin London, gives, in THE SPIRITUALIST of November 22, 1878, thefollowing very striking experience with Mrs. Hayden:

My first introduction to Spiritualism commenced at the time of the firstvisit of the well-known medium, Mrs. Hayden, to this country nearlythirty years ago. I was invited to meet her at a party given by a friendin Wimpole Street, London. Having made a pre-engagement for thatevening, which I could not avoid, I arrived late, after what appeared anextraordinary scene, of which they were all talking with greatanimation. My look of blank disappointment was noticed, and Mrs. Hayden,whom I then met for the first time, came most kindly forward, expressedher regrets, and suggested that I should sit at a small table by myselfapart from the others, and she would ask the spirits if they wouldcommunicate with me. All this appeared so new and surprising I scarcelyunderstood what she was talking about, or what I had to expect. Sheplaced before me a printed alphabet, a pencil, and a piece of paper.Whilst she was in the act of doing this, I felt extraordinarily rappingsall over the table, the vibrations from which I could feel on the soleof my foot as it rested against the table's leg. She then directed me tonote down each letter at which I heard a distinct rap, and with thisshort explanation she left me to myself. I pointed as desired-a distinctrap came at the letter E-others followed, and a name that I could notfail to recognize was spelt out. The date of death was given, which Ihad not before known, and a message added which brought back to mymemory the almost last dying words of an old friend-namely, "I shallwatch over you." And then the recollection of the whole scene wasbrought vividly before me. I confess I was startled and somewhat awed.

I carried the paper upon which all this was written at the dictation ofmy spirit friend to his former legal adviser, and was assured by himthat the dates, etc., were perfectly correct. They could not have beenin my mind because I was not aware of them.

It is interesting to note that Mrs. Fitzgerald stated that she believedthat Mrs. Hayden's first seance in England was held with LadyCombermere, her son, Major Cotton, and Mr. Henry Thompson, of York.

In the same volume of THE SPIRITUALIST (p. 264) there appears an accountof a seance with Mrs. Hayden, taken from the life of Charles Young, thewell-known tragedian, written by his son, the Rev. Julian Young:

1853, APRIL 19TH. I went up to London this day for the purpose ofconsulting my lawyers on a subject of some importance to myself, andhaving heard much of a Mrs. Hayden, an American lady, as a spiritualmedium, I resolved, as I was in town, to discover her whereabouts, andjudge of her gifts for myself. Accidentally meeting an old friend, Mr.H., I asked him if he could give me her address. He told me that it was22, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square. As he had never been in hercompany, and had a great wish to see her, and yet was unwilling to payhis guinea for the treat, I offered to frank him, if he would go withme. He did so gladly. Spirit-rapping has been so common since 1853 thatI should irritate my reader's patience by describing the conventionalmode of communicating between the living and the dead. Since the abovedate I have seen very much of spirit-rapping; and though my organs ofwonder are largely developed, and I have a weakness for the mystic andsupernatural, yet I cannot say that I have ever witnessed any spiritualphenomena which were not explicable on natural grounds, except in theinstance I am about to give, in which collusion appeared to be out ofthe question, the friend who accompanied me never having seen Mrs.Hayden, and she knowing neither his name nor mine. The followingdialogue took place between Mrs. H. and myself:

Mrs. H.: Have you, sir, any wish to communicate with the spirit of anydeparted friend?

J. C. Y.: Yes.

Mrs. H.: Be pleased then to ask your questions in the manner prescribedby the formula, and I dare say you will get satisfactory replies.

J. C. Y.: (Addressing himself to one invisible yet supposed to bepresent): Tell me the name of the person with whom I wish tocommunicate.

The letters written down according to the dictation of the taps when puttogether spelt "George William Young."

J. C. Y.: On whom are my thoughts now fixed?

A.: Frederick William Young.

J. C. Y.: What is he suffering from?

A.: Tic douloureux.

J. C. Y.: Can you prescribe anything for him?

A.: Powerful mesmerism.

J. C. Y.: Who should be the administrator?

A.: Someone who has strong sympathy with the patient.

J. C. Y.: Should I succeed?

A.: No.

J. C. Y.: Who would?

A.: Joseph Ries. (A gentleman whom my uncle much respected.)

J. C. Y.: Have I lost any friend lately?

A.: Yes.

J. C. Y.: Who is it? (I thinking of a Miss Young, a distant cousin.)

A.: Christiana Lane.

J. C. Y.: Can you tell me where I sleep to-night?

A.: James B.'s, Esq., 9 Clarges Street.

J. C. Y.: Where do I sleep to-morrow?

A.: Colonel Weymouth's, Upper Grosvenor Street.

I was so astounded by the correctness of the answers I received to myinquiries that I told the gentleman who was with me that I wantedparticularly to ask a question to the nature of which I did not wish himto be privy, and that I should be obliged to him if he would go into theadjoining room for a few minutes. On his doing so I resumed my dialoguewith Mrs. Hayden.

J. C. Y.: I have induced my friend to withdraw because I did not wishhim to know the question I want to put, but I am equally anxious thatyou should not know it either, and yet, if I understand rightly, noanswer can be transmitted to me except through you. What is to be doneunder these circumstances?

Mrs. H.: Ask your question in such a form that the answer returned shallrepresent by one word the salient idea in your mind.

J. C. Y.: I will try. Will what I am threatened with take place?

A.: No.

J. C. Y.: That is unsatisfactory. It is easy to say Yes or No, but thevalue of the affirmation or negation will depend on the conviction Ihave that you know what I am thinking of. Give me one word which shallshow that you have the clue to my thoughts.

A.: Will.

Now, a will by which I had benefited was threatened to be disputed. Iwished to know whether the threat would be carried out. The answer Ireceived was correct.

It may be added that Mr. Young had no belief, before or after thisseance, in spirit agency, which surely, after such an experience, is nocredit to his intelligence or capacity for assimilating fresh knowledge.

The following letter in THE SPIRITUALIST from Mr. John Malcom, ofClifton, Bristol, mentions some well-known sitters. Discussing thequestion that had been raised as to where the first seance in Englandwas held and who were the witnesses present at it, he says:

I do not remember the date; but calling on my friend Mrs. Crowe,authoress of "The Night Side of Nature," she invited me to accompany herto a spiritual seance at the house of Mrs. Hayden in Queen Anne Street,Cavendish Square. She informed me that Mrs. Hayden had just arrived fromAmerica to exhibit the phenomena of Spiritualism to people in Englandwho might feel interested in the subject. There were present Mrs. Crowe,Mrs. Milner Gibson, Mr. Colley Grattan (author of "High Ways and ByeWays"), Mr. Robert Chambers, Dr. Daniels, Dr. Samuel Dickson, andseveral others whose names I did not hear. Some very remarkablemanifestations occurred on that occasion. I afterwards had frequentopportunities of visiting Mrs. Hayden, and, though at first disposed todoubt the genuineness of the phenomena, such convincing evidence wasgiven me of spirit communion that I became a firm believer in the truthof it.

The battle in the British Press raged furiously. In the columns of theLondon CRITIC, Mr. Henry Spicer (author of "Sights and Sounds") repliedto the critics in HOUSEHOLD WORDS, the LEADER, and the ZOIST. Therefollowed in the same newspaper a lengthy contribution from a Cambridgeclergyman, signing himself "M.A.," considered to be the Rev. A. W.Hobson, of St. John's College, Cambridge.

This gentleman's description is graphic and powerful, but too long forcomplete transcription. The matter is of some importance, as the writeris, so far as is known, the first English clergyman who had gone intothe matter. It is strange, and perhaps characteristic of the age, howlittle the religious implications appear to have struck the varioussitters, and how entirely occupied they were by inquiries as to theirgrandmother's second name or the number of their uncles. Even the moreearnest seem to have been futile in their questions, and no one showsthe least sense of realization of the real possibilities of suchcommerce, or that a firm foundation for religious belief could at lastbe laid. This clergyman did, however, in a purblind way, see that therewas a religious side to the matter. He finishes his report with theparagraph:

I will conclude with a few words to the numerous clerical readers of theCRITIC. Being myself a clergyman of the Church of England, I considerthat the subject is one in which my brother clergy must, sooner orlater, take some interest, however reluctant they may be to haveanything to do with it. And my reasons are briefly as follow: If suchexcitement become general in this country as already exists inAmerica-and what reason have we to suppose that it will not?-then theclergy throughout the kingdom will be appealed to on all sides, willhave to give an opinion, and may probably be obliged, by their veryduties, to interfere and endeavour to prevent the delusions to which, inmany cases, this "mystery" has already led. One of the most sensible andable writers on the subject of these spirit manifestations in America,viz., Adin Ballou, in his work has expressly cautioned his readers notto believe all these spirits communicate, nor allow themselves to giveup their former opinions and religious creeds (as so many thousands havedone) at the bidding of these rappers. The thing has scarcely begun inEngland as yet; but already, within the few months since Mr. and Mrs.Hayden arrived in London, it has spread like wild-fire, and I have goodreason for saying that the excitement is only commencing. Persons who atfirst treated the whole affair as a contemptible imposture and humbug,on witnessing these strange things for themselves, become first startledand astonished, then rush blindly into all sorts of mad conclusions-as,for instance, that it is all the work of the devil, or (in the oppositedegree) that it is a new revelation from Heaven. I see scores of themost able and intelligent people whom I know utterly and completelymystified by it; and no one knows what to make of it. I am ready toconfess, for my own part, that I am equally mystified. That it is notimposture, I feel perfectly and fully convinced. In addition to thetests, etc., above-named, I had a long conversation in private with bothMr. and Mrs. Hayden separately, and everything they said bore the marksof sincerity and good faith. Of course, this is no evidence to otherpeople, but it is to me. If there is any deception, they are as muchdeceived as any of their dupes.

It was not the clergy but the Free Thinkers who perceived the realmeaning of the message, and that they must either fight against thisproof of life eternal, or must honestly confess, as so many of us havedone since, that their philosophy was shattered, and that they had beenbeaten on their own ground. These men had called for proofs intranscendent matters, and the more honest and earnest were forced toadmit that they had had them. The noblest of them all was Robert Owen,as famous for his humanitarian works as for his sturdy independence inreligious matters. This brave and honest man declared publicly that thefirst rays of this rising sun had struck him and had gilded the drabfuture which he had pictured. He said:

I have patiently traced the history of these manifestations,investigated the facts connected with them (testified to in innumerableinstances by persons of high character), have had fourteen seances withthe medium Mrs. Hayden, during which she gave me every opportunity toascertain if it were possible there could be any deception on her part.

I am not only convinced that there is no deception with truthful mediain these proceedings, but that they are destined to effect, at thisperiod, the greatest moral revolution in the character and condition ofthe human race.

Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten comments on the interest and astonishmentcreated by the conversion of Robert Owen, the influence of whose purelymaterialistic belief was regarded as exerting an injurious effect onreligion. She says that one of England's most prominent statesmendeclared "that Mrs. Hayden deserved a monument, if only for theconversion of Robert Owen."

Shortly afterwards the famous Dr. Elliotson, who was the president ofthe Secular Society, was also converted after, like St. Paul, violentlyassailing the new revelation. He and Dr. Ashburner had been two of themost prominent supporters of mesmerism in the days when even thatobvious phenomenon had to fight for its existence, and when everymedical man who affirmed it was in danger of being called a quack. Itwas painful to both of them, therefore, when Dr. Ashburner threw himselfinto this higher subject with enthusiasm, while his friend wasconstrained not only to reject but actively to attack it. However, thebreach was healed by the complete conversion of Elliotson, and Mrs.Hardinge Britten relates how in his declining years he insisted upon hercoming to him, and how she found him a "warm adherent of Spiritualism, afaith which the venerable gentleman cherished as the brightestrevelation that had ever been vouchsafed to him, and one which finallysmoothed the dark passage to the life beyond, and made his transition ascene of triumphant faith and joyful anticipation."

As might have been expected, it was not long before the rapid growth oftable phenomena compelled scientific sceptics to recognize theirexistence, or at least to take steps to expose the delusion of those whoattributed to the movements an external origin. Braid, Carpenter, andFaraday stated publicly that the results obtained were due simply tounconscious muscular action. Faraday devised ingenious apparatus whichhe considered conclusively proved his assertion. But, like so many othercritics, Faraday had had no experience with a good medium, and thewell-attested fact of the movement of tables without contact issufficient to demolish his pretty theories. If one could imagine alayman without a telescope contradicting with jeers and contempt theconclusions of those astronomers who had used telescopes, it wouldpresent some analogy to those people who have ventured to criticizepsychic matters without having had any personal psychic experience.

The contemporary spirit is no doubt voiced by Sir David Brewster.Speaking of an invitation from Monckton Milnes to meet Mr. Galla, theAfrican traveller, "who assured him that Mrs. Hayden told him the namesof persons and places in Africa which nobody but himself knew," SirDavid comments, "The world is obviously going mad."

Mrs. Hayden remained in England about a year, returning to Americatowards the close of 1853. Some day, when these matters have found theirtrue proportion to other events, her visit will be regarded ashistorical and epoch-making. Two other American mediums were in Englandduring her visit-Mrs. Roberts and Miss Jay-having followed shortlyafter, but they appear to have had little influence on the movement, andseem to have been very inferior in psychic power.

A contemporary sidelight on those early days is afforded by this extractfrom an article on Spiritualism in THE YORKSHIREMAN (October 25, 1856),a non-Spiritualist journal:

The English public in general, we believe, are but imperfectlyacquainted with the nature of the Spiritualist doctrines, and many ofour readers are, doubtless, unprepared to believe that they prevail toany extent in this country. The ordinary phenomena of table-moving,etc., are, it is true, familiar to most of us. Some two or three yearsago there was not an evening party which did not essay the performanceof a Spiritualist miracleÉ. In those days you were invited to "Tea andTable Moving" as a new excitement, and made to revolve with the familylike mad round articles of furniture.

After declaring that Faraday's attack made "the spirits suddenlysubside," so that for a time no more was heard of their doings, thejournal continues:

We have ample evidence, however, that Spiritualism as a vital and activebelief is not confined to the United States, but that it has foundfavour and acceptance among a considerable class of enthusiasts in ourown country.

But the general attitude of the influential Press was much the same thenas now-ridicule and denial of the facts, and the view that even if thefacts were true, of what use were they? THE TIMES, for instance (a paperwhich has been very ill-informed and reactionary in psychic matters), ina leading article of a little later date suggests:

It would be something to get one's hat off the peg by an effort ofvolition, without going to fetch it, or troubling a servant.

If table-power could be made to turn even a coffee-mill, it would be somuch gained.

Let our mediums and clairvoyants, instead of finding out what somebodydied of fifty years ago, find out what figure the Funds will be at thisday three months.

When one reads such comments in a great paper one wonders whether themovement was not really premature, and whether in so base and materialan age the idea of outside intervention was not impossible to grasp.Much of this opposition was due, however, to the frivolity of inquirerswho had not as yet realized the full significance of these signals frombeyond, and used them, as the Yorkshire paper states, as a sort ofsocial recreation and a new excitement for jaded worldlings.

But while in the eyes of the Press the death-blow had been given to adiscredited movement, investigation went on quietly in many quarters.People of common sense, as Howitt points out, "were successfully testingthose angels, under their own mode of advent, and finding them real,"for, as he well says, public mediums have never done more thaninaugurate the movement."

If one were to judge from the public testimony of the time, Mrs.Hayden's influence might be considered to have been limited in extent.To the public at large she was only a nine days' wonder, but shescattered much seed which slowly grew. The fact is, she opened thesubject up, and people, mostly in the humbler walks of life, began toexperiment and to discover the truth for themselves, though, with acaution born of experience, they kept their discoveries for the mostpart to themselves. Mrs. Hayden, without doubt, fulfilled her ordainedtask.

The history of the movement may well be compared to an advancing seawith its successive crests and troughs, each crest gathering more volumethan the last. With every trough the spectator has thought that thewaves had ended, and then the great new billow gathered. The timebetween the leaving of Mrs. Hayden in 1853 until the advent of D. D.Home in 1855 represents the first lull in England. Superficial criticsthought it was the end. But in a thousand homes throughout the landexperiments were being carried on; many who had lost all faith in thethings of the spirit, in what was perhaps the deadest and most materialage in the world's history, had begun to examine the evidence and tounderstand with relief or with awe that the age of faith was passing andthat the age of knowledge, which St. Peter has said to be better, was athand. Devout students of the Scriptures remember the words of theirMaster: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear themnow," and wondered whether these strange stirrings of outside forcesmight not be part of that new knowledge which had been promised.

Whilst Mrs. Hayden had thus planted the first seeds in London, a secondtrain of events had brought spiritual phenomena under the notice of thepeople of Yorkshire.

This was due to a visit of a Mr. David Richmond, an American Shaker, tothe town of Keighley, when he called upon Mr. David Weatherhead andinterested him in the new development. Table manifestations wereobtained and local mediums discovered, so that a flourishing centre wasbuilt up which still exists. From Yorkshire the movement spread overLancashire, and it is an interesting link with the past that Mr.Wolstenholme, of Blackburn, who died in 1925 at a venerable age, wasable as a boy to secrete himself under a table at one of these earlyseances, where he witnessed, though we will hope that he did not aid,the phenomena. A paper, THE YORKSHIRE SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, was startedat Keighley in 1855, this and other expenses being borne by DavidWeatherhead, whose name should be honoured as one who was the first tothrow his whole heart into the movement. Keighley is still an activecentre of psychic work and knowledge.

CHAPTER VIII

CONTINUED PROGRESS IN ENGLAND

Mrs. de Morgan's account of ten years' experience of Spiritualism coversthe ground from 1853 to 1863. The appearance of this book, with theweighty preface by Professor De Morgan, was one of the first signs thatthe new movement was spreading upwards as well as among the masses. Thencame the work of D. D. Home and of the Davenports, which is detailedelsewhere. The examination of the Dialectical Society began in 1869,which is also dealt with in a later chapter. The year 1870 was the dateof the first researches of William Crookes, which he undertook afterremarking upon the scandal caused by the refusal of scientific men "toinvestigate the existence and nature of facts asserted by so manycompetent and credible witnesses." In the same periodical, the Quarterlyjournal of Science, he spoke of this belief being shared by millions,and added: "I wish to ascertain the laws governing the appearance ofvery remarkable phenomena, which, at the present time, are occurring toan almost incredible extent."

The story of his research was given in full in 1874, and caused such atumult among the more fossilized men of science-those who may be said tohave had their minds subdued to that at which they worked-that there wassome talk of depriving him of his Fellowship of the Royal Society. Thestorm blew over, but Crookes was startled by its violence, and it wasnoticeable that for many years, until his position was impregnable, hewas very cautious in any public expression of his views. In 1872-73, theRev. Stainton Moses appeared as a new factor, and his automatic writingsraised the subject to a more spiritual plane in the judgment of many.The phenomenal side may attract the curious, but when over-emphasized itis likely to repel the judicious mind.

Public lectures and trance addresses became a feature. Mrs. EmmaHardinge Britten, Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan, and Mr. J. J. Morse gaveeloquent orations, purporting to come from spirit influence, and largegatherings were deeply interested. Mr. Gerald Massey, the well-knownpoet and writer, and Dr. George Sexton, also delivered public lectures.Altogether, Spiritualism had much publicity given to it.

The establishment of the British National Association of Spiritualistsin 1873 gave the movement an impetus, because many well-known public menand women joined it. Among them may be mentioned the Countess ofCaithness, Mrs. Makdougall Gregory (widow of Professor Gregory, ofEdinburgh), Dr. Stanhope Speer, Dr. Gully, Sir Charles Isham, Dr.Maurice Davies, Mr. H. D. Jencken, Dr. George Sexton, Mrs. Ross Church(Florence Marryat), Mr. Newton Crosland, and Mr. Benjamin Coleman.

Mediumship of a high order in the department of physical phenomena wassupplied by Mrs. Jencken (Kate Fox) and Miss Florence Cook. Dr. J. R.Newton, the famous healing medium from America, arrived in 1870, andnumbers of extraordinary cures were registered at free treatments. From1870 Mrs. Everitt's wonderful mediumship exercised, like that of D. D.Home, without charge, convinced many influential people. Herne andWilliams, Mrs. Guppy, Eglinton, Slade, Lottie Fowler, and others,secured many converts through their mediumship. In 1872 Hudson's spiritphotographs created enormous interest, and in 1875 Dr. Alfred RusselWallace published his famous book, "On Miracles and ModernSpiritualism."

A good means of tracing the growth of Spiritualism at this period is toexamine the statements of worthy contemporary witnesses, especiallythose qualified by position and experience to give an opinion. Butbefore we glance at the period we are considering, let us look at thesituation in 1866, as viewed by Mr. William Howitt in a few paragraphswhich are so admirable that the author is constrained to quote thetasverbatim. He says:

The present position of Spiritualism in England, were the Press, withall its influence, omnipotent, would be hopeless. After having takenevery possible means to damage and sneer down Spiritualism; after havingopened its columns to it, in the hope that its emptiness and folly wouldbe so apparent that its clever enemies would soon be able to knock it onthe head by invincible arguments, and then finding that all theadvantages of reason and fact were on its side; after having abused andmaligned it to no purpose, the whole Press as by one consent, or by onesettled plan, has adopted the system of opening its columns and pages toany false or foolish story about it, and hermetically closing them toany explanation, refutation, or defence. It is, in fact, resolved, allother means of killing it having failed, to burke it. To clap a literarypitch-plaster on its mouth, and then let anyone that likes cut itsthroat if he can.

By this means it hopes to stamp it out like the rinderpestÉ.

If anything could annihilate Spiritualism, its present estimation by theEnglish public, its treatment by the Press and the courts of law, itsattempted suppression by all the powers of public intelligence, itshatred by the heroes of the pulpits of all churches and creeds, thesimple acceptance of even the public folly and wickedness attributed toit by the Press, its own internal divisions-in a word, its pre-eminentunpopularity would put it out of existence. But does it? On thecontrary, it never was more firmly rooted into the mass of advancedminds; its numbers never more rapidly increased; its truths were nevermore earnestly and eloquently advocated; the enquiries after it nevermore abundant or more anxious. The soirees in Harley Street have,through the whole time that Press and horsehair wig have been heapingevery reproach and every scorn upon it, been crowded to excess by ladiesand gentlemen of the middle and higher classes, who have listened inadmiration to the eloquent and ever-varied addresses of Emma Hardinge.Meantime, the Davenports, a thousand times denounced as impostors, andexposed impostors, have a thousand times shown that their phenomenaremain as unexplainable as ever on any but a spiritual theory.

What means all this? What does it indicate? That Press and pulpit, andmagistrate and law courts, have all tried their powers, and have failed.They stand nonplussed before the thing which they themselves haveprotested is poor and foolish and false and unsubstantial. If it be sopoor and foolish and false and unsubstantial, how is it that all theirlearning, their unscrupulous denunciation, their vast means of attackand their not less means of prevention of fair defence, their command ofthe ears and the opinions of the multitude-how happens it that all theirwit and sarcasm and logic and eloquence cannot touch it? So far fromshaking and diminishing it, they do not even ruffle a hair on its head,or a fringe of its robe.

Is it not about time for these combined hosts of the great and wise, thescientific, the learned, the leaders of senates and colleges and courtsof law, the eloquent favourites of Parliament, the magnates of thepopular Press, furnished with all the intellectual artillery which agreat national system of education, and great national system of Churchand State and aristocracy, accustomed to proclaim what shall be held tobe true and of honourable repute by all honourable men and women-is itnot time, I say, that all this great and splendid world of wit andwisdom should begin to suspect that they have something solid to dealwith? That there is something vital in what they have treated as aphantom?

I do not say to these great and world-commanding bodies, powers andagencies, open your eyes and see that your efforts are fruitless, andacknowledge your defeat, for probably they never will open their eyesand confess their shame; but I say to the Spiritualists themselves, darkas the day may seem to you, never was it more cheering. Leagued as allthe armies of public instructors and directors are against it, never wasits bearing more anticipatory of ultimate victory. It has upon it thestamp of all the conquering influences of the age. It has all thelegitimatism of history on its head. It is but fighting the battle thatevery great reform-social or moral or intellectual or religious-hasfought and eventually won.

As showing the change that occurred after Mr. Howitt wrote in 1866, wefind THE TIMES of December 26, 1872, publishing an article entitled"Spiritualism and Science," occupying three and a half columns, in whichthe opinion is expressed that now "it is high time competent handsundertook the unravelling of this Gordian Knot," though why the existinghands of Crookes, Wallace or De Morgan were incompetent is notexplained.

The writer, speaking of Lord Adare's little book (privately printed) onhis experiences with D. D. Home, seems to be impressed by the socialstatus of the various witnesses. Clumsy humour and snobbishness are thecharacteristics of the article:

A volume now lying before us may serve to show how this folly has spreadthroughout society. It was lent to us by a disinguished Spiritualist,under the solemn promise that we should not divulge a single name ofthose concerned. It consists of about 150 pages of reports of seances,and was privately printed by a noble Earl, who has lately passed beyondthe House of Lords; beyond also, we trust, the spirit-peopled chairs andtables which in his lifetime he loved, not wisely, but too well. In thisbook things more marvellous than any we have set down arecircumstantially related, in a natural way, just as though they wereordinary, everyday matters of fact. We shall not fatigue the reader byquoting any of the accounts given, and no doubt he will take our wordwhen we say that they range through every species of "manifestation,"from prophesyings downwards.

What we more particularly wish to observe is, that the attestation offifty respectable witnesses is placed before the title-page. Among themare a Dowager Duchess and other ladies of rank, a Captain in the Guards,a nobleman, a Baronet, a Member of Parliament, several officers of ourscientific and other corps, a barrister, a merchant, and a doctor. Upperand upper middle-class society is represented in all its grades, and bypersons who, to judge by the position they hold and the callings theyfollow, ought to be possessed of intelligence and ability.

Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, the eminent naturalist, in the course of aletter to THE TIMES (January 4, 1873), describing his visit to a publicmedium, said:

I consider it no exaggeration to say that the main facts are now as wellestablished and as easily verifiable as any of the more exceptionalphenomena of Nature which are not yet reduced to law. They have a mostimportant bearing on the interpretation of history, which is full ofnarratives of similar facts, and on the nature of life and intellect, onwhich physical science throws a very feeble and uncertain light; and itis my firm and deliberate belief that every branch of philosophy mustsuffer till they are honestly and seriously investigated, and dealt withas constituting an essential portion of the phenomena of human nature.

One becomes bemused by ectoplasm and laboratory experiments which leadthe thoughts away from the essential. Wallace was one of the few whosegreat, sweeping, unprejudiced mind saw and accepted the truth in itswonderful completeness from the humble physical proofs of outside powerto the highest mental teaching which that power could convey, teachingthat far surpasses in beauty and in credibility any which the modernmind has known.

The public acceptance and sustained support of this great scientificman, one of the first brains of his age, were the more important sincehe had the wit to understand the complete religious revolution which layat the back of these phenomena. It has been a curious fact that withsome exceptions in these days, as of old, the wisdom has been given tothe humble and withheld from the learned. Heart and intuition have wonto the goal where brain has missed it. One would think that theproposition was a simple one. It may be expressed in a series ofquestions after the Socratic form: "Have we established connexion withthe intelligence of those who have died?" THE SPIRITUALIST says: "Yes.""Have they given us information of the new life in which they findthemselves, and of how it has been affected by their earth life?" Again"Yes." "Have they found it correspond to the account given by anyreligion upon earth?" "No." Then if this be so, is it not clear that thenew information is of vital religious import? The humble Spiritualistsees this and adapts his worship to the facts.

Sir William (then Professor) Barrett brought the subject of Spiritualismbefore the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1876.His paper was entitled "On Some Phenomena associated with AbnormalConditions of Mind." He had difficulty in obtaining a hearing. TheBiological Committee refused to accept the paper and passed it on to theAnthropological Sub-section, who only accepted it on the casting vote ofthe chairman, Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace. Colonel Lane Fox helped toovercome the opposition by asking why, as they had discussed ancientwitchcraft the previous year, they should not examine modern witchcraftthat year. The first part of Professor Barrett's paper dealt withmesmerism, but in the second part he related his experiences ofSpiritualistic phenomena, and urged that further scientific examinationshould be given to the subject. He gave the convincing details of aremarkable experience he had had of raps occurring with a child.*

* THE SPIRITUALIST, Sept. 22, 1876, Vol. IX, pp. 87-88.

In the ensuing discussion Sir William Crookes spoke of the levitationshe had witnessed with D. D. Home, and said of levitation: "The evidencein favour of it is stronger than the evidence in favour of almost anynatural phenomenon the British Association could investigate." He alsomade the following remarks concerning his own method of psychicresearch:

I was asked to investigate when Dr. Slade first came over, and Imentioned my conditions. I have never investigated except under theseconditions. It must be at my own house, and my own selection of friendsand spectators, under my own conditions, and I may do whatever I like asregards apparatus. I have always tried, where it has been possible, tomake the physical apparatus test the things themselves, and have nottrusted more than is possible to my own senses. But when it is necessaryto trust to my senses, I must entirely dissent from Mr. Barrett, when hesays a trained physical inquirer is no match for a professionalconjurer. I maintain a physical inquirer is more than a match.

An important contribution to the discussion was made by Lord Rayleigh,the distinguished mathematician, who said:

I think we are much indebted to Professor Barrett for his courage, forit requires some courage to come forward in this matter, and to give usthe benefit of his careful experiments. My own interest in the subjectdates back two years. I was first attracted to it by reading Mr.Crookes's investigations. Although my opportunities have not been sogood as those enjoyed by Professor Barrett, I have seen enough toconvince me that those are wrong who wish to prevent investigation bycasting ridicule on those who may feel inclined to engage in it.

The next speaker, Mr. Groom Napier, was greeted with laughter when hedescribed verified psychometric descriptions of people from theirhandwriting enclosed in sealed envelopes, and when he went on todescribe spirit lights that he had seen, the uproar forced him to resumehis seat. Professor Barrett, in replying to his critics, said:

It certainly shows the immense advance that this subject has made withinthe last few years, that a paper on the once laughed-at phenomena ofso-called Spiritualism should have been admitted into the BritishAssociation, and should have been permitted to receive the fulldiscussion it has had to-day.

The London SPECTATOR, in an article entitled "The British Association onProfessor Barrett's Paper," opened with the following broad-minded view:

Now that we have before us a full report of Professor Barrett's paper,and of the discussion upon it, we may be permitted to express our hopethat the British Association will really take some action on the subjectof the paper, in spite of the protests of the party which we may callthe party of superstitious incredulity. We say superstitious incredulitybecause it is really a pure superstition, and nothing else, to assumethat we are so fully acquainted with the laws of Nature, that evencarefully-examined facts, attested by an experienced observer, ought tobe cast aside as utterly unworthy of credit, only because they do not atfirst sight seem to be in keeping with what is most clearly knownalready.

Sir William Barrett's views steadily progressed until he accepted theSpiritualistic position in unequivocal terms before his lamented deathin 1925. He lived to see the whole world ameliorate its antagonism tosuch subjects, though little difference perhaps could be observed in theBritish Association which remained as obscurantist as ever. Such atendency, however, may not have been an unmixed evil, for, as Sir OliverLodge has remarked, if the great pressing material problems had beencomplicated by psychic issues, it is possible that they would not havebeen solved. It may be worth remarking that Sir William Barrett inconversation with the author recalled that of the four men who supportedhim upon that historical and difficult occasion, every one lived toreceive the Order of Merit-the greatest honour which their country couldbestow. The four were Lord Rayleigh, Crookes, Wallace and Huggins.

It was not to be expected that the rapid growth of Spiritualism would bewithout its less desirable features. These were of at least two kinds.First the cry of fraudulent mediumship was frequently heard. In thelight of our later, fuller knowledge we know that much that bears theappearance of fraud is not necessarily fraud at all. At the same time,the unbounded credulity of a section of Spiritualists undoubtedlyprovided an easy field for charlatans. In the course of a paper readbefore the Cambridge University Society for Psychological Investigationin 1879, the President of the Society, Mr. J. A. Campbell, said*:

* THE SPIRITUALIST, April 11, 1879, p. 170.

Since the advent of Mr. Home, the number of media has increased yearly,and so has the folly and the imposture. Every spook has become, in theeyes of fools, a divine angel; and not even every spook, but everyrogue, dressed up in a sheet, who has chosen or shall choose to callhimself a materialized "spirit." A so-called religion has been foundedin which the honour of the most sacred names has been transferred to theghosts of pickpockets. Of the characters of which divinities, and of thedoctrines taught by them, I shall not insult you by speaking; so it everis when folly and ignorance get into their hands the weapon of aneternal fact, abuse, distortion, crime itself; such were ever theresults of children playing with edged tools, but who but an ignoramuswould cry, naughty knife? Gradually the movement is clearing itself ofsuch excretions, gradually is it becoming more sober and pure, andstrong, and as sensible men and educated men study and pray and work,striving to make good use of their knowledge, will it become more so.

The second feature was the apparent increase of what may be termedanti-Christian, though not antireligious, Spiritualism. This led toWilliam Howitt and other stalwart supporters ceasing their connexionwith the movement. Powerful articles against this tendency werecontributed to the SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE by Howitt and others.

A suggestion of the need for caution and balance is afforded in theremarks of Mr. William Stainton Moses, who said in a paper read beforethe British National Association of Spiritualists on January 26, 1880*:

* THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. II, p. 546.

We are emphatically in need of discipline and education. We have hardlyyet settled down after our rapid growth. The child, born just thirtyyears ago, has increased in stature (if not in wisdom) at a very rapidrate. It has grown so fast that its education has been a littleneglected. In the expressive phraseology of its native country, it hasbeen "dragged up" rather promiscuously; and its phenomenal growth hasabsorbed all other considerations. The time has now come when those whohave regarded it as an ugly monster which was born by one of Nature'sfreaks only to die an early death, begin to recognize their mistake. Theugly brat means to live; and beneath its ugliness the least sympatheticgaze detects a coherent purpose in its existence. It is the presentationof a principle inherent in man's nature, a principle which his wisdomhas improved away until it is wellnigh eliminated altogether, but whichcrops out again and again in spite of him-the principle of Spirit asopposed to Matter, of Soul acting and existing independently of the bodywhich enshrines it. Long years of denial of aught but the properties ofmatter have landed the chief lights of modern science in pureMaterialism. To them, therefore, this Spiritualism is a portent and aproblem. It is a return to superstition; a survival of savagery; a bloton nineteenth century intelligence. Laughed at, it laughs back; scorned,it gives back scorn for scorn.

In 1881, LIGHT, a high-class weekly Spiritualist newspaper, was begun,and 1882 saw the formation of the Society for Psychical Research.Speaking generally, it may be said that the attitude of organizedscience during these thirty years was as unreasonable and unscientificas that of Galileo's cardinals, and that if there had been a ScientificInquisition, it would have brought its terrors to bear upon the newknowledge. No serious attempt of any sort, up to the formation of theS.P.R. was made to understand or explain a matter which was engaging theattention of millions of minds. Faraday in 1853 put forward the theorythat table-moving was caused by muscular pressure, which may be trueenough in some cases, but bears no relation to the levitation of tables,and in any case applies only to the one limited class of psychicphenomena. The usual "scientific" objection was that nothing occurred atall, which neglected the testimony of thousands of credible witnesses.Others argued that what did happen was capable of being exposed by aconjurer, and any clumsy imitation such as Maskelyne's parody of theDavenports was eagerly hailed as an exposure, with no reference to thefact that the whole mental side of the question with its overwhelmingevidence was untouched thereby.

The "religious" people, furious at being shaken out of theirtime-honoured ruts, were ready, like savages, to ascribe any new thingto the devil. Roman Catholics and the Evangelical sects, alike, foundthemselves for once united in their opposition. That low spirits may bereached, and low, lying messages received, is beyond all doubt, sinceevery class of spirit exists around us, and like attracts like; but thelofty, sustaining and philosophic teaching which comes to every seriousand humble-minded inquirer shows that it is Angelism and not Diabolismwhich is within our reach. Dr. Carpenter put forward some complextheory, but seems to have been in a minority of one in its acceptance oreven in its comprehension. The doctors had an explanation founded uponthe cracking of joints, which is ludicrous to anyone who has hadpersonal experience of those percussive sounds which vary in range fromthe tick of a watch to the blow of a sledge-hammer.

Further explanations, either then or later, included the Theosophicdoctrine, which admitted the facts but depreciated the spirits,describing them as astral shells with a sort of dreamyhalf-consciousness, or possibly an attenuated conscience which made themsub-human in their intelligence or morality. Certainly the quality ofspirit communion does vary greatly, but the highest is so high that wecan hardly imagine that we are in touch with only a fraction of thespeaker. As it is asserted, however, that even in this world oursubliminal self is far superior to our normal workaday individuality, itwould seem only fair that the spirit world should confront us withsomething less than its full powers.

Another theory postulates the ANIMA MUNDI, a huge reservoir or centralbank of intelligence, with a clearing-house in which all inquiries arehonoured. The sharp detail which we receive from the Other Side isincompatible with any vague grandiose idea of the sort. Finally, thereis the one really formidable alternative, that man has an etheric bodywith many unknown gifts, among which a power of external manifestationin curious forms may be included. It is to this theory of Cryptesthesiathat Richet and others have clung, and up to a point there is anargument in its favour. The author has satisfied himself that there is apreliminary and elementary stage in all psychic work which depends uponthe innate and possibly unconscious power of the medium. The reading ofconcealed script, the production of raps upon demand, the description ofscenes at a distance, the remarkable effects of psychometry, the firstvibrations of the Direct Voice-each and all of these on differentoccasions have seemed to emanate from the medium's own power. Then inmost cases there would appear an outside intelligence which was able toappropriate that force and use it for its own ends. An illustrationmight be given in the experiments of Bisson and Schrenck Notzing withEva, where the ectoplasmic forms were at first undoubtedly reflectionsof newspaper illustrations, somewhat muddled by their passage throughthe medium's mind. Yet there came a later and deeper stage where anectoplasmic form was evolved which was capable of movement and even ofspeech. Richet's great brain and close power of observation have beenlargely centred upon the physical phenomena, and he does not seem tohave been brought much in contact with those personal mental andspiritual experiences which would probably have modified his views. Itis fair to add, however, that those views have continually moved in thedirection of the Spiritualistic explanation.

There only remains the hypothesis of complex personality, which may wellinfluence certain cases, though it seems to the author that such casesmight be explained equally well by obsession. These instances, however,can only touch the fringe of the subject, and ignore the wholephenomenal aspect, so that the matter need not be taken very seriously.It cannot be too often repeated, however, that the inquirer shouldexhaust every possible normal explanation to his own completesatisfaction before he adopts the Spiritualistic view. If he has donethis his platform is stable-if he has not done it he can never beconscious of its solidity. The author can say truly, that year afteryear he clung on to every line of defence until he was finallycompelled, if he were to preserve any claim to mental honesty, toabandon the materialistic position.

CHAPTER IX

THE CAREER OF D. D. HOME

Daniel Dunglas Home was born in 1833 at Currie, a village nearEdinburgh. There was a mystery about his parentage, and it has been bothasserted and denied that he was related in some fashion to the family ofthe Earl of Home. Certainly he was a man who inherited elegance offigure, delicacy of feature, sensitiveness of disposition and luxury intaste, from whatever source he sprang. But for his psychic powers, andfor the earnestness which they introduced into his complex character, hemight have been taken as the very type of the aristocratic younger sonwho inherits the tendencies, but not the wealth, of his forbears.

Home went from Scotland to New England, at the age of nine years, withhis aunt who had adopted him, a mystery still surrounding his existence.When he was thirteen he began to show signs of the psychic faculties hehad inherited, for his mother, who was descended from an old Highlandfamily, had the characteristic second-sight of her race. His mysticaltrend had shown itself in a conversation with his boy friend, Edwin,about a short story where, as the result of a compact, a lover, afterhis death, manifested his presence to his lady-love. The two boyspledged themselves that whoever died first would come and show himselfto the other. Home removed to another district some hundreds of milesdistant, and about a month later, just after going to bed one night, hesaw a vision of Edwin and announced to his aunt his death, news of whichwas received a day or two after. A second vision in 1850 concerned thedeath of his mother, who with her husband had gone to live in America.The boy was ill in bed at the time, and his mother away on a visit tofriends at a distance. One evening he called loudly for help, and whenhis aunt came she found him in great distress. He said that his motherhad died that day at twelve o'clock; that she had appeared to him andtold him so. The vision proved to be only too true. Soon loud raps beganto disturb the quiet household, and furniture to be moved by invisibleagency. His aunt, a woman of a narrow religious type, declared the boyhad brought the Devil into her house, and turned him out of doors.

He took refuge with friends, and in the next few years moved among themfrom town to town. His mediumship had become strongly developed, and atthe houses where he stopped he gave frequent seances, sometimes as manyas six or seven a day, for the limitations of power and the reactionsbetween physical and psychic were little understood at that time. Theseproved a great drain on his strength, and he was frequently laid up withillness. People flocked from all directions to witness the marvels whichoccurred in Home's presence. Among those who investigated with him atthis time was the American poet Bryant, who was accompanied by ProfessorWells, of Harvard University. In New York he met many distinguishedAmericans, and three-Professor Hare, Professor Mapes, and Judge Edmonds,of the New York Supreme Court-had sittings with him. All three became,as already stated, convinced Spiritualists.

In these early years the charm of Home's personality, and the deepimpression created by his powers, led to his receiving many offers.Professor George Bush invited him to stay with him and study for theSwedenborgian ministry; and Mr. and Mrs. Elmer, a rich and childlesscouple, who had grown to cherish a great affection for him, offered toadopt him and make him their heir on condition of his changing his nameto Elmer.

His remarkable healing powers had excited wonder and, yielding to thepersuasion of friends, he began to study for the medical profession. Buthis general delicate health, coupled with actual lung trouble, forcedhim to abandon this project and, acting under medical advice, he leftNew York for England.

He arrived in Liverpool on April 9, 1855, and has been described as atall, slim youth with a marked elegance of bearing and a fastidiousneatness of dress, but with a worn, hectic look upon his very expressiveface which told of the ravages of disease. He was blue-eyed andauburn-haired, of a type which is peculiarly liable to the attack oftubercle, and the extreme emaciation of his frame showed how littlepower remained with him by which he might resist it. An acute physicianwatching him closely would probably have gauged his life by monthsrather than years in our humid climate, and of all the marvels whichHome wrought, the prolongation of his own life was perhaps not theleast. His character had already taken on those emotional and religioustraits which distinguished it, and he has recorded how, before landing,he rushed down to his cabin and fell upon his knees in prayer. When oneconsiders the astonishing career which lay before him, and the largepart which he played in establishing those physical foundations whichdifferentiate this religious development from any other, it may well beclaimed that this visitor was among the most notable missionaries whohas ever visited our shores.

His position at that moment was a very singular one. He had hardly arelation in the world. His left lung was partly gone. His income wasmodest, though sufficient. He had no trade or profession, his educationhaving been interrupted by his illness. In character he was shy, gentle,sentimental, artistic, affectionate, and deeply religious. He had astrong tendency both to Art and the Drama, so that his powers ofsculpture were considerable, and as a reciter he proved in later lifethat he had few living equals. But on the top of all this, and of anunflinching honesty which was so uncompromising that he often offendedhis own allies, there was one gift so remarkable that it threweverything else into insignificance. This lay in those powers, quiteindependent of his own volition, coming and going with disconcertingsuddenness, but proving to all who would examine the proof, that therewas something in this man's atmosphere which enabled forces outsidehimself and outside our ordinary apprehension to manifest themselvesupon this plane of matter. In other words, he was a medium-the greatestin a physical sense that the modern world has ever seen.

A lesser man might have used his extraordinary powers to found somespecial sect of which he would have been the undisputed high priest, orto surround himself with a glamour of power and mystery. Certainly mostpeople in his position would have been tempted to use it for the makingof money. As to this latter point, let it be said at once that never inthe course of the thirty years of his strange ministry did he touch oneshilling as payment for his gifts. It is on sure record that as much astwo thousand pounds was offered to him by the Union Club in Paris in theyear 1857 for a single seance, and that he, a poor man and an invalid,utterly refused it. "I have been sent on a mission," he said. "Thatmission is to demonstrate immortality. I have never taken money for itand I never will." There were certain presents from Royalty which cannotbe refused without boorishness: rings, scarf-pins, and the like-tokensof friendship rather than recompense; for before his premature deaththere were few monarchs in Europe with whom this shy youth from theLiverpool landing-stage was not upon terms of affectionate intimacy.Napoleon the Third provided for his only sister. The Emperor of Russiasponsored his marriage. What novelist would dare to invent such acareer?

But there are more subtle temptations than those of wealth. Home'suncompromising honesty was the best safeguard against those. Never for amoment did he lose his humility and his sense of proportion. "I havethese powers," he would say; "I shall be happy, up to the limit of mystrength, to demonstrate them to you, if you approach me as onegentleman should approach another. I shall be glad if you can throw anyfurther light upon them. I will lend myself to any reasonableexperiment. I have no control over them. They use me, but I do not usethem. They desert me for months and then come back in redoubled force. Iam a passive instrument-no more." Such was his unvarying attitude. Hewas always the easy, amiable man of the world, with nothing either ofthe mantle of the prophet or of the skull-cap of the magician. Like mosttruly great men, there was no touch of pose in his nature. An index ofhis fine feeling is that when confirmation was needed for his results hewould never quote any names unless he was perfectly certain that theowners would not suffer in any way through being associated with anunpopular cult. Sometimes even after they had freely given leave hestill withheld the names, lest he should unwittingly injure a friend.When he published his first series of "Incidents in my Life," theSATURDAY REVIEW waxed very sarcastic over the anonymous "evidence ofCountess O-, Count B-, Count de K-, Princess de B- and Mrs. S-, who werequoted as having witnessed manifestations. In his second volume, Home,having assured himself of the concurrence of his friends, filled theblanks with the names of the Countess Orsini, Count de Beaumont, Countde Komar, Princess de Beauveau, and the well-known American hostess,Mrs. Henry Senior. His Royal friends he never quoted at all, and yet itis notorious that the Emperor Napoleon, the Empress Eugenie, the TsarAlexander, the Emperor William the First of Germany, and the Kings ofBavaria and Wurtemberg were all equally convinced by his extraordinarypowers. Never once was Home convicted of any deception, either in wordor in deed.

On first landing in England he took up his quarters at Cox's Hotel inJermyn Street, and it is probable that he chose that hostelry because hehad learned that through Mrs. Hayden's ministry the proprietor wasalready sympathetic to the cause. However that may be, Mr. Cox quicklydiscovered that his young guest was a most remarkable medium, and at hisinvitation some of the leading minds of the day were asked to considerthose phenomena which Home could lay before them. Among others, LordBrougham came to a seance and brought with him his scientific friend,Sir David Brewster. In full daylight they investigated the phenomena,and in his amazement at what happened Brewster is reported to have said:"This upsets the philosophy of fifty years." If he had said "fifteenhundred" he would have been within the mark. He described what tookplace in a letter written to his sister at the time, but published longafter.* Those present were Lord Brougham, Sir David Brewster, Mr. Coxand the medium.

* "Home Life of Sir David Brewster," by Mrs. Gordon (his daughter),1869.

"We four," said Brewster, "sat down at a moderately-sized table, thestructure of which we were invited to examine. In a short time the tablestruggled, and a tremulous motion ran up all our arms; at our biddingthese motions ceased and returned. The most unaccountable rappings wereproduced in various parts of the table, and the table actually rose fromthe ground when no hand was upon it. A larger table was produced, andexhibited similar movements.

"A small hand-bell was laid down with its mouth upon the carpet, andafter lying for some time, it actually rang when nothing could havetouched it." He adds that the bell came over to him and placed itself inhis hand, and it did the same to Lord Brougham; and concludes "Thesewere the principal experiments. We could give no explanation of them,and could not conjecture how they could be produced by any kind ofmechanism."

The Earl of Dunraven states that he was induced to investigate thephenomena by what Brewster had told him. He describes meeting thelatter, who said that the manifestations were quite inexplicable byfraud, or by any physical laws with which we were acquainted. Home sentan account of this sitting in a letter to a friend in America, where itwas published with comments. When these were reproduced in the EnglishPress, Brewster became greatly alarmed. It was one thing to hold certainviews privately, it was quite another to face the inevitable loss ofprestige that would occur in the scientific circles in which he moved.Sir David was not the stuff of which martyrs or pioneers are made. Hewrote to the MORNING ADVERTISER, stating that though he had seen severalmechanical effects which he could not explain, yet he was satisfied thatthey could all be produced by human hands and feet. At the time it had,of course, never occurred to him that his letter to his sister, justquoted, would ever see the light.

When the whole correspondence came to be published, the SPECTATORremarked of Sir David Brewster:

It seems established by the clearest evidence that he felt andexpressed, at and immediately after his seances with Mr. Home, a wonderand almost awe, which he afterwards wished to explain away. The hero ofscience does not acquit himself as one could wish or expect.

We have dwelt a little on this Brewster incident because it was typicalof the scientific attitude of the day, and because its effect was toexcite a wider public interest in Home and his phenomena, and to bringhundreds of fresh investigators. One may say that scientific men may bedivided into three classes: those who have not examined the matter atall (which does not in the least prevent them from giving very violentopinions); those who know that it is true but are afraid to say so; andfinally the gallant minority of the Lodges, the Crookes, the Barrettsand the Lombrosos, who know it is true and who dare all in saying so.

From Jermyn Street, Home went to stay with the Rymer family in Ealing,where many seances were held. Here he was visited by Lord Lytton, thefamous novelist, who, although he received striking evidence, neverpublicly avowed his belief in the medium's powers, though his privateletters, and indeed his published novels, are evidence of his truefeeling. This was the case with scores of well-known men and women.Among his early sitters were Robert Owen the Socialist, T. A. Trollopethe author, and Dr. J. Garth Wilkinson the alienist.

In these days, when the facts of psychic phenomena are familiar to allsave those who are wilfully ignorant, we can hardly realize the moralcourage which was needed by Home in putting forward his powers andupholding them in public. To the average educated Briton in the materialVictorian era a man who claimed to be able to produce results whichupset Newton's law of gravity, and which showed invisible mind actingupon visible matter, was prima facie a scoundrel and an impostor. Theview of Spiritualism pronounced by Vice-Chancellor Giffard at theconclusion of the Home-Lyon trial was that of the class to which hebelonged. He knew nothing of the matter, but took it for granted thatanything with such claims must be false. No doubt similar things werereported in far-off lands and ancient books, but that they could occurin prosaic, steady old England, the England of bank-rates and freeimports, was too absurd for serious thought. It has been recorded thatat this trial Lord Giffard turned to Home's counsel and said: "Do Iunderstand you to state that your client claims that he has beenlevitated into the air?" Counsel assented, on which the judge turned tothe jury and made such a movement as the high priest may have made inancient days when he rent his garments as a protest against blasphemy.In 1868 there were few of the jury who were sufficiently educated tocheck the judge's remarks, and it is just in that particular that wehave made some progress in the fifty years between. Slow work-butChristianity took more than three hundred years to come into its own.

Take this question of levitation as a test of Home's powers. It isclaimed that more than a hundred times in good light before reputablewitnesses he floated in the air. Consider the evidence. In 1857, in achateau near Bordeaux, he was lifted to the ceiling of a lofty room inthe presence of Madame Ducos, widow of the Minister of Marine, and ofthe Count and Countess de Beaumont. In 1860 Robert Bell wrote anarticle, "Stranger than Fiction," in the CORNHILL. "He rose from hischair," says Bell, "four or five feet from the groundÉ. We saw hisfigure pass from one side of the window to the other, feet foremost,lying horizontally in the air." Dr. Gully, of Malvern, a well-knownmedical man, and Robert Chambers, the author and publisher, were theother witnesses. Is it to be supposed that these men were lyingconfederates, or that they could not tell if a man were floating in theair or pretending to do so? In the same year Home was raised at Mrs.Milner Gibson's house in the presence of Lord and Lady Clarence Paget,the former passing his hands underneath him to assure himself of thefact. A few months later Mr. Wason, a Liverpool solicitor, with sevenothers, saw the same phenomenon. "Mr. Home," he says, "crossed the tableover the heads of the persons sitting around it." He added: "I reachedhis hand seven feet from the floor, and moved along five or six paces ashe floated above me in the air." In 1861 Mrs. Parkes, of CornwallTerrace, Regent's Park, tells how she was present with Bulwer Lytton andMr. Hall when Home in her own drawing-room was raised till his hand wason the top of the door, and then floated horizontally forward. In 1866Mr. and Mrs. Hall, Lady Dunsany, and Mrs. Senior, in Mr. Hall's housesaw Home, his face transfigured and shining, twice rise to the ceiling,leaving a cross marked in pencil upon the second occasion, so as toassure the witnesses that they were not the victims of imagination.

In 1868 Lord Adare, Lord Lindsay, Captain Wynne, and Mr. Smith Barry sawHome levitate upon many occasions. A very minute account has been leftby the first three witnesses of the occurrence of December 16* of thisyear, when at Ashley House Home, in a state of trance, floated out ofthe bedroom and into the sitting-room window, passing seventy feet abovethe street. After his arrival in the sitting-room he went back into thebedroom with Lord Adare, and upon the latter remarking that he could notunderstand how Home could have fitted through the window which was onlypartially raised, "he told me to stand a little distance off. He thenwent through the open space head first quite rapidly, his body beingnearly horizontal and apparently rigid. He came in again feet foremost."Such was the account given by Lords Adare and Lindsay. Upon itspublication Dr. Carpenter, who earned an unenviable reputation by aperverse opposition to every fact which bore upon this question, wroteexultantly to point out that there had been a third witness who had notbeen heard from, assuming without the least justification that CaptainWynne's evidence would be contradictory. He went the length of saying "asingle honest sceptic declares that Mr. Home was sitting in his chairall the time "a statement which can only be described as false. CaptainWynne at once wrote corroborating the others and adding: "If you are notto believe the corroborative evidence of three unimpeached witnesses,there would be an end to all justice and courts of law."

* The almanac shows it to be Sunday the 13th.

To show how hard put to it the critics have been to find some loopholeof escape from the obvious, they have made much of the fact that LordLindsay, writing some time after the event, declared that it was seen bymoonlight; whereas the calendar shows that the moon was not at that timevisible. Mr. Andrew Lang remarks: "Even in a fog, however, people in aroom can see a man coming in by the window, and go out again, headfirst, with body rigid." * It would seem to most of us that if we saw somarvellous a sight we would have little time to spare to determinewhether we viewed it by the light of the moon or by that of the streetlamps. It must be admitted, however, that Lord Lindsay's account isclumsily worded-so clumsily that there is some excuse for Mr. JosephMcCabe's reading of it that the spectators looked not at the objectitself and its shadow on the window-sill, but that they stood with theirbacks to it and viewed the shadow on the wall. When one considers,however, the standing of the three eye-witnesses who have testified tothis, one may well ask whether in ancient or modern times anypreternatural event has been more clearly proved.

* "Historical Mysteries," p. 236.

So many are the other instances of Home's levitations that a longarticle might easily be written upon this single phase of hismediumship. Professor Crookes was again and again a witness to thephenomenon, and refers to fifty instances which had come within hisknowledge. But is there any fair-minded person who has read the incidenthere recorded who will not say, with Professor Challis: "Either thefacts must be admitted to be such as are reported, or the possibility ofcertifying facts by human testimony must be given up."

"Are we, then, back in the age of miracles?" cries the reader. There isno miracle. Nothing on this plane is supernatural. What we see now, andwhat we have read of in ages past, is but the operation of law which hasnot yet been studied and defined. Already we realize something of itspossibilities and of its limitations, which are as exact in their way asthose of any purely physical power. We must hold the balance betweenthose who would believe nothing and those who would believe too much.Gradually the mists will clear and we will chart the shadowy coast. Whenthe needle first sprang up at the magnet it was not an infraction of thelaws of gravity. It was that there had been the local intervention ofanother stronger force. Such is the case also when psychic powers actupon the plane of matter. Had Home's faith in this power faltered, orhad his circle been unduly disturbed, he would have fallen. When Peterlost faith he sank into the waves. Across the centuries the same causestill produced the same effect. Spiritual power is ever with us if we donot avert our faces, and nothing has been vouchsafed to Judma which iswithheld from England.

It is in this respect, as a confirmation of the power of the unseen, andas a final answer to materialism as we now understand it, that Home'spublic career is of such supreme importance. He was an affirmativewitness of the truth of those so-called "miracles" which have been thestumbling-block for so many earnest minds, and are now destined to bethe strong solid proof of the accuracy of the original narrative.Millions of doubting souls in the agony of spiritual conflict had criedout for definite proof that all was not empty space around us, thatthere were powers beyond our grasp, that the ego was not a meresecretion of nervous tissue, and that the dead did really carry on theirpersonal unbroken existence. All this was proved by this greatest ofmodern missionaries to anyone who could observe or reason. It is easy topoke superficial fun at rising tables and quivering walls, but they werethe nearest and most natural objects which could record in materialterms that power which was beyond our human ken. A mind which would beunmoved by an inspired sentence was struck into humility and into newpaths of research in the presence of even the most homely of theseinexplicable phenomena. It is easy to call them puerile, but theyeffected the purpose for which they were sent by shaking to itsfoundations the complaisance of those material men of science who werebrought into actual contact with them. They are to be regarded not asends in themselves, but as the elementary means by which the mind shouldbe diverted into new channels of thought. And those channels of thoughtled straight to the recognition of the survival of the spirit. "You haveconveyed incalculable joy and comfort to the hearts of many people,"said Bishop Clark, of Rhode Island. "You have made dwelling-places lightthat were dark before." "Mademoiselle," said Home to the lady who was tobe his wife, "I have a mission entrusted to me. It is a great and a holyone." The famous Dr. Elliotson, immortalized by Thackeray under the nameof Dr. Goodenough, was one of the leaders of British materialism. He metHome, saw his powers, and was able soon to say that he had lived all hislife in darkness and had thought there was nothing in existence but thematerial, but he now had a firm hope which he trusted he would holdwhile on earth.

Innumerable instances could be quoted of the spiritual value of Home'swork, but it has never been better summed up than in a paragraph fromMrs. Webster, of Florence, who saw much of his ministry. "He is the mostmarvellous missionary of modern times in the greatest of all causes, andthe good that he has done cannot be reckoned. When Mr. Home passes hebestows around him the greatest of all blessings, the certainty of afuture life."

Now that the details of his career can be read, it is to the whole wideworld that he brings this most vital of all messages. His attitude as tohis own mission was expressed in a lecture given in London in Willis'sRooms on February 15, 1866. He said: "I believe in my heart that thispower is being spread more and more every day to draw us nearer to God.You ask if it makes us purer? My only answer is that we are but mortals,and as such liable to err; but it does teach that the pure in heartshall see God. It teaches us that He is love, and that there is nodeath. To the aged it comes as a solace, when the storms of life arenearly over and rest cometh. To the young it speaks of the duty we oweto each other, and that as we sow so shall we reap. To all it teachesresignation. It comes to roll away the clouds of error, and bring thebright morning of a never-ending day."

It is curious to see how his message affected those of his owngeneration. Reading the account of his life written by his widow-a mostconvincing document, since she of all living mortals must have known thereal man-it would appear that his most utterly whole-hearted support andappreciation came from those aristocrats of France and Russia with whomhe was brought into contact. The warm glow of personal admiration andeven reverence in their letters is such as can hardly be matched in anybiography. In England he had a close circle of ardent supporters, a fewof the upper classes, with the Halls, the Howitts, Robert Chambers, Mrs.Milner Gibson, Professor Crookes, and others. But there was a sad lackof courage among those who admitted the facts in private and stood aloofin public. Lord Brougham and Bulwer Lytton were of the type ofNicodemus, the novelist being the worst offender. "Intelligentsia" onthe whole came badly out of the matter, and many an Honoured namesuffers in the story. Faraday and Tyndall were fantasticallyunscientific in their methods of prejudging a question first, andoffering to examine it afterwards on the condition that theirprejudgment was accepted. Sir David Brewster, as already shown, saidsome honest things, and then in a panic denied that he had said them,forgetting that the evidence was on actual record. Browning wrote a longpoem-if such doggerel can be called poetry-to describe an exposure whichhad never taken place. Carpenter earned an unenviable notoriety as anunscrupulous opponent, while proclaiming some strange Spiritualisticthesis of his own. The secretaries of the Royal Society refused to takea cab-drive in order to see Crookes's demonstration of the physicalphenomena, while they pronounced roundly against them.

Lord Giffard inveighed from the Bench against a subject the firstelements of which he did not understand.

As to the clergy, such an order might not have existed during the thirtyyears that this, the most marvellous spiritual outpouring of manycenturies, was before the public. One cannot recall the name of oneBritish clergyman who showed any intelligent interest; and when in 1872a full account of the St. Petersburg seances began to appear in THETIMES, it was cut short, according to Mr. H. T. Humphreys, "on accountof strong remonstrances to Mr. Delane, the editor, by certain of thehigher clergy of the Church of England." Such was the contribution ofour official spiritual guides. Dr. Elliotson the Rationalist, was farmore alive than they. The rather bitter comment of Mrs. Home is: "Theverdict of his own generation was that of the blind and deaf upon theman who could hear and see."

Home's charity was among his more beautiful characteristics. Like alltrue charity it was secret, and only comes out indirectly and by chance.One of his numerous traducers declared that he had allowed a bill for£5o to be sent in to his friend, Mr. Rymer. In self-defence it came outthat it was not a bill but a cheque most generously sent by Home to helpthis friend in a crisis. Considering his constant poverty, fifty poundsprobably represented a good part of his bank balance. His widow dwellswith pardonable pride upon the many evidences found in his letters afterhis death. "Now it is an unknown artist for whose brush Home's generousefforts had found employment; now a distressed worker writes of his sickwife's life saved by comforts that Home provided; now a mother thankshim for a start in life for her son.

How much time and thought he devoted to helping others when thecircumstance of his own life would have led most men to think only oftheir own needs and cares."

"Send me a word from the heart that has known so often how to cheer afriend!" cries one of his proteges.

"Shall I ever prove worthy of all the good you have done me?" saysanother letter.

We find him roaming the battlefields round Paris, often under fire, withhis pockets full of cigars for the wounded. A German officer writesaffectionately to remind him how he saved him from bleeding to death,and carried him on his own weak back out of the place of danger. TrulyMrs. Browning was a better judge of character than her spouse, and SirGalahad a better name than Sludge.

At the same time, it would be absurd to depict Home as a man of flawlesscharacter. He had the weakness of his temperament, and somethingfeminine in his disposition which showed itself in many ways. Theauthor, while in Australia, came across a correspondence dating from1856 between Home and the elder son of the Rymer family. They hadtravelled together in Italy, and Home had deserted his friend undercircumstances which showed inconstancy and ingratitude. It is only fairto add that his health was so broken at the time that he could hardly becalled normal. "He had the defects of an emotional character," said LordDunraven, "with vanity highly developed, perhaps wisely to enable him tohold his own against the ridicule that was then poured out onSpiritualism and everything connected with it. He was liable to fits ofgreat depression and to nervous crises difficult to understand, but hewas withal of a simple, kindly, humorous, loving disposition thatappealed to meÉ. My friendship remained without change or diminution tothe end."

There are few of the varied gifts which we call "mediumistic" and St.Paul "of the spirit" which Home did not possess-indeed, thecharacteristic of his psychic power was its unusual versatility. Wespeak usually of a Direct Voice medium, of a trance speaker, of aclairvoyant or of a physical medium, but Home was all four. So far ascan be traced, he had little experience of the powers of other mediums,and was not immune from that psychic jealousy which is a common trait ofthese sensitives. Mrs. Jencken, formerly Miss Kate Fox, was the onlyother medium with whom he was upon terms of friendship. He bitterlyresented any form of deception, and carried this excellent trait rathertoo far by looking with eyes of suspicion upon all forms ofmanifestations which did not exactly correspond with his own. Thisopinion, expressed in an uncompromising manner in his last book, "Lightsand Shadows of Spiritualism," gave natural offence to other mediums whoclaimed to be as honest as himself. A wider acquaintance with phenomenawould have made him more charitable. Thus he protested strongly againstany seance being held in the dark, but this is certainly a counsel ofperfection, for experiments upon the ectoplasm which is the physicalbasis of all materializations show that it is usually affected by lightunless the light is tinted red. Home had no large experience of completematerializations such as were obtained in those days by Miss FlorenceCook, or Madame d'Esperance, or in our own time, by Madame Bisson'smedium, and therefore he could dispense with complete darkness in hisown ministry. Thus, his opinion was unjust to others. Again, Homedeclared roundly that matter could not pass through matter, because hisown phenomena did not take that form; and yet the evidence that mattercan in certain cases be passed through matter seems to be overwhelming.Even birds of rare varieties have been brought into seance rooms undercircumstances which seem to preclude fraud, and the experiments ofpassing wood through wood, as shown before Zollner and the other Leipzigprofessors, were quite final as set forth in the famous physicist'saccount in "Transcendental Physics" of his experiences with Slade. Thus,it may count as a small flaw in Home's character that he decried anddoubted the powers which he himself did not happen to possess.

Some also might count it as a failing that he carried his message ratherto the leaders of society and of life than to the vast toiling masses.It is probable that Home had, in fact, the weakness as well as thegraces of the artistic nature and that he was most at ease and happiestin an atmosphere of elegance and refinement, with a personal repulsionfrom all that was sordid and ill-favoured. If there were no other reasonthe precarious state of his health unfitted him for any sterner mission,and he was driven by repeated hemorrhages to seek the pleasant andrefined life of Italy, Switzerland and the Riviera. But for theprosecution of his mission, as apart from personal self-sacrifice, therecan be no doubt that his message carried to the laboratory of a Crookesor to the Court of a Napoleon was more useful than if it were laidbefore the crowd. The assent of science and of character was neededbefore the public could gain assurance that such things were true. If itwas not fully gained the fault lies assuredly with the hidebound men ofscience and thinkers of the day, and by no means with Home, who playedhis part of actual demonstration to perfection, leaving it to other andless gifted men to analyse and to make public that which he had shownthem. He did not profess to be a man of science, but he was the rawmaterial of science, willing and anxious that others should learn fromhim all that he could convey to the world, so that science should itselftestify to religion while religion should be buttressed upon science.When Home's message has been fully learned an unbelieving man will notstand convicted of impiety, but of ignorance.

There was something pathetic in Home's efforts to find some creed inwhich he could satisfy his own gregarious instinct-for he had no claimsto be a strong-minded individualist-and at the same time find a nicheinto which he could fit his own precious packet of assured truth. Hispilgrimage vindicates the assertion of some Spiritualists that a man maybelong to any creed and carry with him the spiritual knowledge, but italso bears out those who reply that perfect harmony with that spiritualknowledge can only be found, as matters now stand, in a specialSpiritualist community. Alas! that it should be so, for it is too big athing to sink into a sect, however great that sect might become. Homebegan in his youth as a Wesleyan, but soon left them for the moreliberal atmosphere of Congregationalism. In Italy the artisticatmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church, and possibly its record of somany phenomena akin to his own, caused him to become a convert with anintention of joining a monastic Order-an intention which his commonsense caused him to abandon. The change of religion was at a period whenhis psychic powers had deserted him for a year, and his confessorassured him that as they were of evil origin they would certainly neverbe heard of again now that he was a son of the true Church. None theless, on the very day that the year expired they came back in renewedstrength. From that time Home seems to have been only nominally aCatholic, if at all, and after his second marriage-both his marriageswere to Russian ladies-he was strongly drawn towards the Greek Church,and it was under their ritual that he was at last laid to rest at St.Germain in 1886. "To another discerning of Spirits" (I Cor. xii. 10) isthe short inscription upon that grave, of which the world has not yetheard the last.

If proof were needed of the blamelessness of Home's life, it could notbe better shown than by the fact that his numerous enemies, spying everfor some opening to attack, could get nothing in his whole career uponwhich to comment save the wholly innocent affair which is known as theHome-Lyon case. Any impartial judge reading the depositions in thiscase-they are to be found verbatim in the second series of "Incidents inMy Life"-would agree that it is not blame but commiseration which wasowing to Home. One could desire no higher proof of the nobility of hischaracter than his dealings with this unpleasant freakish woman, whofirst insisted upon settling a large sum of money upon him, and then,her whim having changed and her expectations of an immediateintroduction into high society being disappointed, stuck at nothing inorder to get it back again. Had she merely asked for it back there islittle doubt that Home's delicate feelings would have led him to returnit, even though he had been put to much trouble and expense over thematter, which had entailed a change of his name to Home-Lyon, to meetthe woman's desire that he should be her adopted son. Her request,however, was so framed that he could not honourably agree to it, as itwould have implied an admission that he had done wrong in accepting thegift. If one consults the original letters-which few of those whocomment upon the case seem to have done-one finds that Home, S. C. Hallas his representative and Mr. Wilkinson as his solicitor, implored thewoman to moderate the unreasonable benevolence which was to change sorapidly into even more unreasonable malevolence. She was absolutelydetermined that Home should have the money and be her heir. A lessmercenary man never lived, and he begged her again and again to think ofher relatives, to which she answered that the money was her own to dowhat she pleased with, and that no relatives were dependent upon it.From the time that he accepted the new situation he acted and wrote as adutiful son, and it is not uncharitable to suppose that this entirelyfilial attitude may not have been that which this elderly lady hadplanned out in her scheming brain. At any rate, she soon tired of herfad and reclaimed her money upon the excuse-a monstrous one to anyonewho will read the letters and consider the dates-that spirit messageshad caused her to take the action she had done.

The case was tried in the Court of Chancery, and the judge alluded toMrs. Lyon's "innumerable misstatements on many importantparticulars-misstatements upon oath so perversely untrue that they haveembarrassed the Court to a great degree and quite discredited theplaintiff's testimony." In spite of this caustic comment, and in spitealso of elementary justice, the verdict was against Home on the generalground that British law put the burden of disproof upon the defendant insuch a case, and complete disproof is impossible when assertion is metby counter-assertion. Lord Giffard might, no doubt, have risen superiorto the mere letter of the law had it not been that he was deeplyprejudiced against all claims to psychic power, which were from hispoint of view manifestly absurd and yet were persisted in by thedefendant under his nose in his own Court of Chancery. Even Home's worstenemies were forced to admit that the fact that he had retained themoney in England and had not lodged it where it would have been beyondrecovery proved his honest intentions in this the most unfortunateepisode of his life. Of all the men of honour who called him friend, itis not recorded that he lost one through the successful machinations ofMrs. Lyon. Her own motives were perfectly obvious. As all the documentswere in order, her only possible way of getting the money back was tocharge Home with having extorted it from her by misrepresentation, andshe was cunning enough to know what chance a medium-even an amateurunpaid medium-would have in the ignorant and material atmosphere of amid-Victorian court of law. Alas! that we can omit the "mid-Victorian"and the statement still holds good.

The powers of Home have been attested by so many famous observers, andwere shown under such frank conditions, that no reasonable man canpossibly doubt them. Crookes's evidence alone is conclusive.* There isalso the remarkable book, reprinted at a recent date, in which LordDunraven gives the story of his youthful connexion with Home. But apartfrom these, among those in England who investigated in the first fewyears and whose public testimony or letters to Home show they were notonly convinced of the genuineness of the phenomena, but also of theirspiritual origin, may be mentioned the Duchess of Sutherland, LadyShelley, Lady Gomm, Dr. Robert Chambers, Lady Otway, Miss CatherineSinclair, Mrs. Milner Gibson, Mr. and Mrs. William Howitt, Mrs. DeBurgh, Dr. Gully (of Malvern), Sir Charles Nicholson, Lady Dunsany, SirDaniel Cooper, Mrs. Adelaide Senior, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mrs.Makdougall Gregory, Mr. Pickersgill, R.A., Mr. E. L. Blanchard, and Mr.Robert Bell.

* "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," and S.P.R. PROCEEDINGS,VI., p. 98.

Such were his witnesses and such his works. And yet, when his mostuseful and unselfish life had come to an end, it must be recorded to theeternal disgrace of our British Press that there was hardly a paperwhich did not allude to him as an impostor and a charlatan. The time iscoming, however, when he will be recognized for what he was, one of thepioneers in the slow and arduous advance of Humanity into that jungle ofignorance which has encompassed it so long.

CHAPTER X

THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS

In order to present a consecutive story the career of D. D. Home hasbeen traced in its entirety. It is necessary now to return to earlierdays in America and consider the development of the two Davenports. Homeand the Davenports both played an international part, and their historyhelps to cover the movement both in England and in the States. TheDavenports worked upon a far lower level than Home, making a professionof their remarkable gifts, and yet by their crude methods they got theirresults across to the multitude in a way which a more refined mediumshipcould not have done. If one considers this whole train of events ashaving been engineered by a wise but by no means infallible oromnipotent force upon the Other Side, one observes how each occasion ismet by the appropriate instrument, and how as one demonstration fails toimpress some other one is substituted.

The Davenports have been fortunate in their chroniclers. Two writershave published books* describing the events of their life, and theperiodical literature of the time is full of their exploits.

Ira Erastus Davenport and William Henry Davenport were born at Buffaloin the State of New York, the former on September 17, 1839, and thelatter on February 1, 1841. Their father, who was descended from theearly English settlers in America, occupied a position in the policedepartment of Buffalo. Their mother was born in Kent, England, and wentto America when a child. Some indications of psychic gifts were observedin the mother's life. In 184.6 the family were disturbed in the middleof the night by what they described as "raps, thumps, loud noises,snaps, crackling noises." This was two years before the outbreak in theFox family. But it was the Fox manifestations which, in this case as inso many others, led them to investigate and discover their mediumisticpowers.

The two Davenport boys and their sister Elizabeth, the youngest of thethree, experimented by placing their hands on a table. Loud and violentnoises were heard and messages were spelt out. The news leaked abroad,and as with the Fox girls, hundreds of curious and incredulous peopleflocked to the house. Ira developed automatic writing, and handed tothose present messages written with extraordinary rapidity andcontaining information he could not have known. Levitation quicklyfollowed, and the boy was floated in the air above the heads of those inthe room at a distance of nine feet from the floor. Next, the brotherand sister were influenced in the same way, and the three childrenfloated high up in the room. Hundreds of respectable citizens of Buffaloare reported to have seen these occurrences. Once when the family was atbreakfast the knives, forks, and dishes danced about and the table wasraised in the air. At a sitting soon after this a lead pencil was seento write in broad daylight, with no human contact. Seances were now heldregularly, lights began to appear, and musical instruments floated andplayed above the heads of the company. The Direct Voice and otherextraordinary manifestations too numerous to mention followed. Yieldingto requests from the communicating intelligences, the brothers startedjourneying to various places and holding public seances. Amongstrangers, tests were insisted upon. At first the boys were held bypersons selected from those present, but this being found unsatisfactorybecause it was thought that those holding them were confederates, theplan of tying them with ropes was adopted. To read the list of ingenioustests successively proposed, and put into operation without interferingwith the manifestations, shows how almost impossible it is to convinceresolute sceptics. As soon as one test succeeded another was proposed,and so on. The professors of Harvard University in 1857 conducted anexamination of the boys and their phenomena. Their biographer writes*:

The professors exercised their ingenuity in proposing tests. Would theysubmit to be handcuffed? Yes. Would they allow men to hold them? Yes. Adozen propositions were made, accepted, and then rejected by those whomade them. If any test was adopted by the brothers, that was reasonenough for not trying it. They were supposed to be prepared for that, sosome other must be found.

Finally, the professors bought five hundred feet of new rope, bored withholes the cabinet set up in one of their rooms, and trussed the boys inwhat is described as a brutal manner. All the knots in the rope weretied with linen thread, and one of their number, Professor Pierce, tookhis place in the cabinet between the two brothers. At once a phantomhand was shown, instruments were rattled and were felt by the professorabout his head and face. At every movement he felt for the boys with hishands, only to find them still securely bound. The unseen operators atlast released the boys from their bindings, and when the cabinet wasopened the ropes were found twisted round the neck of the professor!After all this, the Harvard professors made no report. It is instructivealso to read the account of the really ingenious test-apparatusconsisting of what may be described as wooden sleeves and trousers,securely fastened, devised by a man named Darling, in Bangor (U.S.A.).Like other tests, it proved incapable of preventing instantmanifestations. It is to be remembered that many of these tests wereapplied at a time when the brothers were mere boys, too young to havelearned any elaborate means of deception.

It is not strange to read that the phenomena raised violent oppositionalmost everywhere, and the brothers were frequently denounced asjugglers and humbugs. It was after ten years of public work in thelargest cities and towns in the United States that the DavenportBrothers came to England. They had submitted successfully to every testthat human ingenuity could devise, and no one had been able to say howtheir results were obtained. They had won for themselves a greatreputation. Now they had to begin all over again.

The two brothers, Ira and William, at this time were aged twenty-fiveand twenty-three years respectively. The NEW YORK WORLD thus describesthem:

They looked remarkably like each other in almost every particular, bothquite handsome with rather long, curly black hair, broad, but not highforeheads, dark keen eyes, heavy eyebrows, moustache and "goatee,"firm-set lips, muscular though well-proportioned frame. They weredressed in black with dress-coats, one wearing a watch-chain.

Dr. Nichols, their biographer, gives this first impression of them:

The young men, with whom I have had but a brief personal acquaintance,and whom I never saw until their arrival in London, appear to me to bein intellect and character above the average of their young countrymen,they are not remarkable for cleverness, though of fair abilities, andIra has some artistic talentÉ. The young men seem entirely honest, andsingularly disinterested and unmercenary-far more anxious to have peoplesatisfied of their integrity and the reality of their manifestationsthan to make money. They have an ambition, without doubt, which isgratified in their having been selected as the instruments of what theybelieve will be some great good to mankind.

They were accompanied to England by the Rev. Dr. Ferguson, formerlypastor of a large church at Nashville, Tennessee, at which AbrahamLincoln attended, Mr. D. Palmer, a well-known operatic manager, whoacted as secretary, and Mr. William M. Fay, who was also a medium.

Mr. P. B. Randall, in his biography of the Davenports (Boston 1869,published anonymously), points out that their mission to England was "tomeet on its own low ground and conquer, by appropriate means, the hardmaterialism and scepticism of England." The first step to knowledge, hesays, is to be convinced of ignorance, and adds:

If the manifestations given by the aid of the Brothers Davenport canprove to the intellectual and scientific classes that there areforces-and intelligent forces, or powerful intelligences-beyond therange of their philosophies, and that what they consider physicalimpossibilities are readily accomplished by invisible, and to themunknown, intelligences, a new universe will be open to human thought andinvestigation.

There is little doubt that the mediums had this effect on many minds.

The manifestations of Mrs. Hayden's mediumship were quiet andunobtrusive, and while those of D. D. Home were more remarkable, theywere confined entirely to exclusive sets of people to whom no fees werecharged. Now these two brothers hired public halls and challenged theworld at large to come and witness phenomena which passed the bounds ofall ordinary belief. It needed no foresight to predict for them astrenuous time of opposition, and so it proved. But they attained theend which the unseen directors undoubtedly had in view. They rousedpublic attention as it had never been roused before in England on thissubject. No better testimony in proof of that could be had than that oftheir strongest opponent, Mr. J. N. Maskelyne, the celebrated conjurer.

He writes*: "Certain it is, England was completely taken aback for atime by the wonders presented by these jugglers." He further adds:

* "Modern Spiritualism," p. 65.

The Brothers did more than all other men to familiarize England with theso-called Spiritualism, and before crowded audiences and under variedconditions, they produced really wonderful feats. The hole-and-cornerseances of other media, where with darkness or semi-darkness, and apliant, or frequently a devoted assembly, manifestations areoccasionally said to occur, cannot be compared with the Davenportexhibitions in their effect upon the public mind.

Their first seance in London, a private one, was held on September 28,1864, at the residence in Regent Street of Mr. Dion Boucicault, thefamous actor and author, in the presence of leading newspaper men anddistinguished men of science. The Press reports of the seance wereremarkably full and, for a wonder, fair.

The account in the Morning Post the next day says that the guests wereinvited to make the most critical examination and to take all needfulprecautions against fraud or deception, and continues:

The party invited to witness the manifestations last night consisted ofsome twelve or fourteen individuals, all of whom are admitted to be ofconsiderable distinction in the various professions with which they areconnected. The majority have never previously witnessed anything of thekind. All, however, were determined to detect and if possible expose anyattempt at deception. The Brothers Davenport are slightly built,gentleman-like in appearance, and about the last persons in the worldfrom whom any great muscular performances might be expected. Mr. Fay isapparently a few years older, and of more robust constitution.

After describing what occurred, the writer goes on:

All that can be asserted is, that the displays to which we have referredtook place on the present occasion under conditions and circumstancesthat preclude the presumption of fraud.

THE TIMES, the DAILY TELEGRAPH, and other newspapers published long andhonest reports. We omit quotations from them because the followingimportant statement from Mr. Dion Boucicault, which appeared in theDaily News as well as in many other London journals, covers all thefacts. It describes a later seance at Mr. Boucicault's house on October11, 1864, at which were present, among others Viscount Bury, M.P., SirCharles Wyke, Sir Charles Nicholson, the Chancellor of the University ofSydney, Mr. Robert Chambers, Charles Reade, the novelist, and CaptainInglefield, the Arctic explorer.

SIR,

A seance by the Brothers Davenport and Mr. W. Fay took place in my houseyesterday in the presence ofÉ. (here he mentions twenty-four namesincluding all those already quoted)É.

At three o'clock our party was fully assembledÉ. We sent to aneighbouring music-seller for six guitars and two tambourines, so thatthe implements to be used should not be those with which the operatorswere familiar.

At half-past three the Davenport Brothers and Mr. Fay arrived, and foundthat we had altered their arrangements by changing the room which theyhad previously selected for their manifestations.

The seance then began by an examination of the dress and persons of theBrothers Davenport, and it was certified that no apparatus or othercontrivance was concealed on or about their persons. They entered thecabinet, and sat facing each other. Captain Inglefield then, with a newrope provided by ourselves, tied Mr. W. Davenport hand and foot, withhis hands behind his back, and then bound him firmly to the seat wherehe sat. Lord Bury, in like manner, secured Mr. I. Davenport. The knotson these ligatures were then fastened with sealing-wax, and a seal wasaffixed. A guitar, violin, tambourine, two bells, and a brass trumpetwere placed on the floor of the cabinet. The doors were then closed, anda sufficient light was permitted in the room to enable us to see whatfollowed.

I shall omit any detailed account of the babel of sounds which arose inthe cabinet, and the violence with which the doors were repeatedly burstopen and the instruments expelled; the hands appearing, as usual, at alozenge-shaped orifice in the centre door of the cabinet. The followingincidents seem to us particularly worthy of note:

While Lord Bury was stooping inside the cabinet, the door being open andthe two operators seen to be sealed and bound, a detached hand wasclearly observed to descend upon him, and he started back, remarkingthat a hand had struck him. Again, in the full light of the gaschandelier and during an interval in the seance, the doors of thecabinet being open, and while the ligatures of the Brothers Davenportwere being examined, a very white, thin, female hand and wrist quiveredfor several seconds in the air above. This appearance drew a generalexclamation from all the party.

Sir Charles Wyke now entered the cabinet and sat between the two youngmen-his hands being right and left on each, and secured to them. Thedoors were then closed, and the babel of sounds recommenced. Severalhands appeared at the orifice-among them the hand of a child. After aspace, Sir Charles returned amongst us and stated that while he held thetwo brothers, several hands touched his face and pulled his hair; theinstruments at his feet crept up, played round his body and over hishead-one of them lodging eventually on his shoulders. During theforegoing incidents the hands which appeared were touched and grasped byCaptain Inglefield, and he stated that to the touch they were apparentlyhuman hands, though they passed away from his grasp.

I omit mentioning other phenomena, an account of which has already beenrendered elsewhere.

The next part of the seance was performed in the dark. One of theMessrs. Davenport and Mr. Fay seated themselves amongst us. Two ropeswere thrown at their feet, and in two minutes and a half they were tiedhand and foot, their hands behind their backs bound tightly to theirchairs, and their chairs bound to an adjacent table. While this processwas going on, the guitar rose from the table and swung or floated roundthe room and over the heads of the party, and slightly touching some.Now a phosphoric light shot from side to side over our heads; the lapsand hands and shoulders of several were simultaneously touched, struck,or pawed by hands, the guitar meanwhile sailing round the room, now nearthe ceiling, and then scuffling on the head and shoulders of some luckless Wight. The bells whisked here and there, and a light thrumming wasmaintained on the violin. The two tambourines seemed to roll hither andthither on the floor, now shaking violently, and now visiting the kneesand hands of our circle-all these foregoing actions, audible ortangible, being simultaneous. Mr. Rideout, holding a tambourine,requested it might be plucked from his hand; it was almostinstantaneously taken from him. At the same time, Lord Bury made asimilar request, and a forcible attempt to pluck a tambourine from hisgrasp was made which he resisted. Mr. Fay then asked that his coatshould be removed. We heard instantly a violent twitch, and hereoccurred the most remarkable fact. A light was struck before the coathad quite, left Mr. Fay's person, and it was seen quitting him, pluckedoff him upwards. It flew up to the chandelier, where it hung for amoment and then fell to the ground. Mr. Fay was seen meanwhile boundhand and foot as before. One of our party now divested himself of hiscoat, and it was placed on the table. The light was extinguished andthis coat was rushed on to Mr. Fay's back with equal rapidity. Duringthe above occurrences in the dark, we placed a sheet of paper under thefeet of these two operators, and drew with a pencil an outline aroundthem, to the end that if they moved it might be detected. They of theirown accord offered to have their hands filled with flour, or any othersimilar substance, to prove they made no use of them, but thisprecaution was deemed unnecessary; we required them, however, to countfrom one to twelve repeatedly, that their voices constantly heard mightcertify to us that they were in the places where they were tied. Each ofour own party held his neighbour firmly, so that no one could movewithout two adjacent neighbours being aware of it.

At the termination of this seance, a general conversation took place onthe subject of what we had heard and witnessed. Lord Bury suggested thatthe general opinion seemed to be that we should assure the BrothersDavenport and Mr. W. Fay that after a very stringent trial and strictscrutiny of their proceedings, the gentlemen present could arrive at noother conclusion than that there was no trace of trickery in any form,and certainly there were neither confederates nor machinery, and thatall those who had witnessed the results would freely state in thesociety in which they moved that, so far as their investigations enabledthem to form an opinion, the phenomena which had taken place in theirpresence were not the product of legerdemain. This suggestion waspromptly acceded to by all present.

There is a concluding paragraph in which Mr. Dion Boucicault states thathe is not a Spiritualist, and at the close of the report his name andthe date are affixed.

This wonderfully full and lucid account is given without abbreviationbecause it supplies the answer to many objections, and because thecharacter of the narrator and the witnesses cannot be questioned. Itsurely must be accepted as quite final so far as honesty is concerned.All subsequent objections are mere ignorance of the facts.

In October, 1864, the Davenports began to give public seances at theQueen's Concert Rooms, Hanover Square. Committees were appointed fromthe audience, and every effort made to detect how it was all done, butwithout avail. These seances, interspersed with private ones, werecontinued almost nightly until the close of the year. The daily Presswas full of accounts of them, and the brothers' names were on everyone'slips. Early in 1865 they toured the English provinces, and in Liverpool,Huddersfield, and Leeds they suffered violence at the hands of excitedmobs. At Liverpool, in February, two members of the audience tied theirhands so brutally that blood flowed, and Mr. Ferguson cut the rope andreleased them. The Davenports refused to continue, and the mob rushedthe platform and smashed up the cabinet. The same tactics were resortedto at Huddersfield on February 21, and then at Leeds with increasedviolence, the result of organized opposition. These riots led to theDavenports cancelling any other engagements in England. They next wentto Paris, where they received a summons to appear at the Palace of St.Cloud, where the Emperor and Empress and a party of about fortywitnessed a seance. While in Paris, Hamilton, the successor of thecelebrated conjurer., Robert Houdin, visited them, and in a letter to aParis newspaper, he said: "The phenomena surpassed my expectations, andthe experiments are full of interest for me. I consider it my duty toadd they are inexplicable." After a return visit to London, Ireland wasvisited at the beginning of 1866. In Dublin they had many influentialsitters, including the editor of the IRISH TIMES and the Rev. Dr.Tisdal, who publicly proclaimed his belief in the manifestations.

In April of the same year the Davenports went to Hamburg and then toBerlin, but the expected war (which their guides told them would comeabout) made the trip unremunerative. Theatre managers offered themliberal terms for exhibitions, but, heeding the advice of theirever-present spirit monitor, who said that their manifestations, beingsupernatural, should be kept above the level of theatricalentertainments, they declined, though much against the wish of theirbusiness manager. During their month's stay in Berlin they were visitedby members of the Royal family. After three weeks in Hamburg theyproceeded to Belgium, where considerable success was attained inBrussels, and all the principal towns. They next went to Russia,arriving in St. Petersburg on December 27, 1866. On January 7, 1867,they gave their first public seance to an audience numbering onethousand. The next seance was at the residence of the French Ambassadorto a gathering of about fifty people, including officers of the ImperialCourt, and on January q they gave a seance in the Winter Palace to theEmperor and the Imperial family. They afterwards visited Poland andSweden. On April 11, 1868, they reappeared in London at the HanoverSquare Rooms, and received an enthusiastic welcome from a crowdedaudience. Mr. Benjamin Coleman, a prominent Spiritualist, who arrangedtheir first public seances in London, writing at this time of their stayof close on four years in Europe, says*:

* SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, 1868, p. 321.

I desire to convey to those of my friends in America who introduced themto me, the assurance of my conviction that the Brothers' mission toEurope has been of great service to Spiritualism; that their publicconduct as mediums-in which relation I alone know them-has been steadyand unexceptionable.

He adds that he knows no form of mediumship better adapted for a largeaudience than theirs. After this visit to London the Davenports returnedhome to America. The brothers visited Australia in 1876, and on August24 gave their first public seance in Melbourne. William died in Sydneyin July, 1877.

Throughout their career the Davenport Brothers excited the deep envy andmalice of the conjuring fraternity. Maskelyne, with amazing effrontery,pretended to have exposed them in England. His claims in this directionhave been well answered by Dr. George Sexton, a former editor of theSPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, who described in public, in the presence of Mr.Maskelyne, how his tricks were done, and comparing them with the resultsachieved by the Davenports, said: "The two bear about as muchresemblance to each other as the productions of the poet Close to thesublime and glorious dramas of the immortal bard of Avon."* Still theconjurers made more noise in public than the Spiritualists, and with thePress to support them they made the general public believe that theDavenport Brothers had been exposed.

* Address at Cavendish Rooms, London, June 15, 1873.

In announcing the death in America of Ira Davenport in 1911, LIGHTcomments on the outpouring of journalistic ignorance for which itfurnished the opportunity. The Daily News is quoted as saying of thebrothers: "They made the mistake of appearing as sorcerers instead of ashonest conjurers. If, like their conqueror, Maskelyne, they had thoughtof saying, 'It's so simple,' the brethren might have achieved not onlyfortune but respectability." In reply to this, LIGHT asks why, if theywere mere conjurers and not honest believers in their mediumship, didthe Davenport Brothers endure hardships, insults, and injuries, andsuffer the indignities that were put upon them, when by renouncing theirclaims to mediumship they might have been "respectable" and rich?

An inevitable remark on the part of those who are not able to detecttrickery is to ask what elevating purpose can be furthered by phenomenasuch as those observed with the Davenports. The well-known author andsturdy Spiritualist, William Howitt, has given a good answer:

Are these who play tricks and fling about instruments spirits fromHeaven? Can God really send such? Yes, God sends them, to teach us this,if nothing more: that He has servants of all grades and tastes ready todo all kinds of work, and He has here sent what you call low andharlequin spirits to a low and very sensual age. Had He sent anythinghigher it would have gone right over the heads of their audiences. As itis, nine-tenths cannot take in what they see.

It is a sad reflection that the Davenports-probably the greatest mediumsof their kind that the world has ever seen-suffered throughout theirlives from brutal opposition and even persecution. Many times they werein danger of their lives.

One is forced to think that there could be no clearer evidence of theinfluence of the dark forces of evil than the prevailing hostility toall spiritual manifestations.

Touching this aspect, Mr. Randall says*:

* "Biography," p. 82.

There seems to be a sort of chronic dislike, almost hatred, in the mindsof some persons toward any and everything spiritual. It seems as if itwere a vapour floating, in the air-a kind of mental spore flowingthrough the spaces, and breathed in by the great multitude of humankind,which kindles a rankly poisonous fire in their hearts against all thosewhose mission it is to bring peace on earth and good will to men. Thefuture men and women of the world will marvel greatly at those nowliving, when they shall, as they will, read that the Davenports, and allother mediums, were forced to encounter the most inveterate hostility;that they, and the writer among them, were compelled to endure horrorsbaffling description, for no other offence than trying to convince themultitude that they were not beasts that perish and leave no sign, butimmortal, deathless, grave-surviving souls.

Mediums ALONE are capable of DEMONSTRATING the fact of man's continuedexistence after death; and yet (strange inconsistency of human nature)the very people who persecute these, their truest and best friends, andfairly hound them to premature death or despair, are the very ones whofreely lavish all that wealth can give upon those whose office it ismerely to GUESS at human immortality.

In discussing the claims of various professional magicians to haveexposed or imitated the Davenports, Sir Richard Burton said:

I have spent a great part of my life in Oriental lands, and have seentheir many magicians. Lately I have been permitted to see and be presentat the performances of Messrs. Anderson and Tolmaque. The latter showed,as they profess, clever conjuring, but they do not even attempt what theMessrs. Davenport and Fay succeed in doing: for instance, the beautifulmanagement of the musical instruments. Finally, I have read and listenedto every explanation of the Davenport "tricks" hitherto placed beforethe English public, and, believe me, if anything would make me take thattremendous jump "from matter to spirit," it is the utter and completeunreason of the reasons by which the "manifestations" are explained.

It is to be remarked that the Davenports themselves, as contrasted withtheir friends and travelling companions, never claimed any preternaturalorigin for their results. The reason for this may have been that as anentertainment it was more piquant and less provocative when every memberof the audience could form his own solution. Writing to the Americanconjurer Houdini, Ira Davenport said in his old age, "We never in publicaffirmed our belief in Spiritualism. That we regarded as no business ofthe public, nor did we offer our entertainment as the result ofsleight-of-hand, or, on the other hand, as Spiritualism. We let ourfriends and foes settle that as best they could between themselves, but,unfortunately, we were often the victims of their disagreements."

Houdini further claimed that Davenport admitted that his results werenormally effected, but Houdini has himself stuffed so many errors offact into his book, "A Magician Among the Spirits," and has shown suchextraordinary bias on the whale question, that his statement carries noweight. The letter which he produces makes no such admission. A furtherstatement quoted as being made by Ira Davenport is demonstrably false.It is that the instruments never left the cabinet. As a matter of fact,The Timer representative was severely struck in the face by a floatingguitar, his brow being cut, and on several occasions when a light wasstruck instruments dropped all over the room. If Houdini has completelymisunderstood this latter statement, it is not likely that he is veryaccurate upon the former (VIDE Appendix).

It may be urged, and has been urged, by Spiritualists as well as bysceptics that such mountebank psychic exhibitions are undignified andunworthy. There are many of us who think so, and yet there are manyothers who would echo these words of Mr. P. B. Randall:

The fault lies not with the immortals, but in us; for, as is the demand,so is the supply. If we cannot be reached in one way, we must be, andare, reached in another; and the wisdom of the eternal world gives theblind race just as much as it can bear and no more. If we areintellectual babes, we must put up with mental pap till our digestivecapacities warrant and demand stronger food; and, if people can best beconvinced of immortality by spiritual pranks and antics, the endsresorted to justify the means. The sight of a spectral arm in anaudience of three thousand persons will appeal to more hearts, make adeeper impression, and convert more people to a belief in theirhereafter, in ten minutes, than a whole regiment of preachers, no matterhow eloquent, could in five years.

CHAPTER XI

THE RESEARCHES OF SIR WILLIAM CROOKES (1870-1874)

The research into the phenomena of Spiritualism by Sir WilliamCrookes-or Professor Crookes, as he then was-during the years from 1870to 1874 is one of the outstanding incidents in the history of themovement. It is notable on account of the high scientific standing ofthe inquirer, the stern and yet just spirit in which the inquiry wasconducted, the extraordinary results, and the uncompromising declarationof faith which followed them. It has been a favourite device of theopponents of the movement to attribute some physical weakness or growingsenility to each fresh witness to psychic truth, but none can deny thatthese researches were carried out by a man at the very zenith of hismental development, and that the famous career which followed was asufficient proof of his intellectual stability. It is to be remarkedthat the result was to prove the integrity not only of the mediumFlorence Cook with whom the more sensational results were obtained, butalso that of D. D. Home and of Miss Kate Fox, who were also severelytested.

Sir William Crookes, who was born in 1832 and died in 1919, waspre-eminent in the world of science.

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863, he received from thisbody in 1875 a Royal Gold Medal for his various chemical and physicalresearches, the Davy Medal in 1888, and the Sir Joseph Copley Medal in1904. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897, and was awarded theOrder of Merit in 1910. He occupied the position of President atdifferent tunes of the Royal Society, the Chemical Society, theInstitution of Electrical Engineers, the British Association, and theSociety for Psychical Research. His discovery of the new chemicalelement which he named "Thallium," his inventions of the radiometer, thespinthariscope, and the "Crookes' tube," only represent a slight part ofhis great research. He founded in 1859 the CHEMICAL NEWS, which heedited, and in 1864 he became editor of the QUARTERLY JOURNAL OFSCIENCE. In 1880 the French Academy of Sciences awarded him a gold medaland a prize of 3,000 francs in recognition of his important work.

Crookes confesses that he began his investigations into psychicalphenomena believing that the whole matter might prove to be a trick. Hisscientific brethren held the same view, and were delighted at the coursehe had adopted. Profound satisfaction was expressed because the subjectwas to be investigated by a man so thoroughly qualified. They had littledoubt that what were considered to be the sham pretensions ofSpiritualism would now be exposed. One writer said, "If men like Mr.Crookes grapple with the subjectÉ we shall soon know how much tobelieve." Dr. (afterwards Professor) Balfour Stewart, in a communicationto Nature, commended the boldness and honesty which had led Mr. Crookesto take this step. Crookes himself took the view that it was the duty ofscientists to make such investigation. He writes: "It argues ill for theboasted freedom of opinion among scientific men that they have so longrefused to institute a scientific investigation into the existence andnature of facts asserted by so many competent and credible witnesses,and which they are freely invited to examine when and where they please.For my own part, I too much value the pursuit of truth, and thediscovery of any new fact in Nature, to avoid inquiry because it appearsto clash with prevailing opinions." In this spirit he began his inquiry.

It should be stated, however, that though Professor Crookes was sternlycritical as to the physical phenomena, already he had had acquaintancewith the mental phenomena, and would appear to have accepted them.Possibly this sympathetic spiritual attitude may have aided him inobtaining his remarkable results, for it cannot be too oftenrepeated-because it is too often forgotten-that psychic research of thebest sort is really "psychic," and depends upon spiritual conditions. Itis not the bumptious self-opinionated man, sitting with a ludicrous wantof proportion as a judge upon spiritual matters, who attains results;but it is he who appreciates that the strict use of reason andobservation is not incompatible with humility of mind, and thatcourteous gentleness of demeanour which makes for harmony and sympathybetween the inquirer and his subject.

Crookes's less material inquiries seem to have begun in the summer of1869. In July of that year he had sittings with the well-known medium,Mrs. Marshall, and in December with another famous medium, J. J. Morse.In July, 1869, D. D. Home who had been giving seances in St. Petersburg,returned to London with a letter of introduction to Crookes fromProfessor Butlerof.

An interesting fact emerges from a private diary kept by Crookes duringhis voyage to Spain in December, 1870, with the Eclipse Expedition.Under the date December 31, he writes:*

* "Life of Sir William Crookes." By E. E. Fournier d'Albe, 1923.

I cannot help reverting in thought to this time last year. Nelly (hiswife) and I were then sitting together in communion with dear departedfriends, and as twelve o'clock struck they wished us many happy NewYears. I feel that they are looking on now, and as space is no obstacleto them, they are, I believe, looking over my dear Nelly at the sametime. Over us both I know there is one whom we all-spirits as well asmortals-bow down to as Father and Master, and it is my humble prayer toHim-the Great Good as the mandarin calls Him-that He will continue Hismerciful protection to Nelly and me and our dear little familyÉ. May Healso allow us to continue to receive spiritual communications from mybrother who passed over the boundary when in a ship at sea more thanthree years ago.

He further adds New Year loving greetings to his wife and children, andconcludes:

And when the earthly years have ended may we continue to spend stillhappier ones in the spirit land, glimpses of which I am occasionallygetting.

Miss Florence Cook, with whom Crookes undertook his classical series ofexperiments, was a young girl of fifteen who was asserted to possessstrong psychic powers, taking the rare shape of completematerialization. It would appear to have been a family characteristic,for her sister, Miss Kate Cook, was not less famous. There had been somesquabble with an alleged exposure in which a Mr. Volckman had takensides against Miss Cook, and in her desire for vindication she placedherself entirely under the protection of Mrs. Crookes, declaring thather husband might make any experiments upon her powers under his ownconditions, and asking for no reward save that he should clear hercharacter as a medium by giving his exact conclusions to the world.Fortunately, she was dealing with a man of unswerving intellectualhonesty. We have had experience in these latter days of mediums givingthemselves up in the same unreserved way to scientific investigation andbeing betrayed by the investigators, who had not the moral courage toadmit those results which would have entailed their own publicacceptance of the spiritual interpretation.

Professor Crookes published a full account of his methods in theQUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, of which he was then editor. In his houseat Mornington Road a small study opened into the chemical laboratory, adoor with a curtain separating the two rooms. Miss Cook lay entrancedupon a couch in the inner room. In the outer in subdued light satCrookes, with such other observers as he invited. At the end of a periodwhich varied from twenty minutes to an hour the materialized figure wasbuilt up from the ectoplasm of the medium. The existence of thissubstance and its method of production were unknown at that date, butsubsequent research has thrown much light upon it, an account of whichhas been embodied in the chapter on ectoplasm. The actual effect wasthat the curtain was opened, and there emerged into the laboratory afemale who was usually as different from the medium as two people couldbe. This apparition, which could move, talk, and act in all ways as anindependent entity, is known by the name which she herself claimed asher own, "Katie King."

The natural explanation of the sceptic is that the two women were reallythe same woman, and that Katie was a clever impersonation of Florence.The objector could strengthen his case by the observation made not onlyby Crookes but by Miss Marryat and others, that there were times whenKatie was very like Florence.

Herein lies one of the mysteries of materialization which call forcareful consideration rather than sneers. The author, sitting with MissBesinnet, the famous American medium, has remarked the same thing, thepsychic faces beginning when the power was weak by resembling those ofthe medium, and later becoming utterly unlike. Some speculators haveimagined that the etheric form of the medium, her spiritual body, hasbeen liberated by the trance, and is the basis upon which the othermanifesting entities build up their own simulacra. However that may be,the fact has to be admitted; and it is paralleled by Direct Voicephenomena, where the voice often resembles that of the medium at firstand then takes an entirely different tone, or divides into two voicesspeaking at the same time.

However, the student has certainly the right to claim that Florence Cookand Katie King were the same individual until convincing evidence islaid before him that this is impossible. Such evidence Professor Crookesis very careful to give.

The points of difference which he observed between Miss Cook and Katieare thus described:

Katie's height varies; in my house I have seen her six inches tallerthan Miss Cook. Last night, with bare feet and not tip-toeing, she wasfour and a half inches taller than Miss Cook. Katie's neck was bare lastnight; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst onMiss Cook's neck is a large blister, which under similar circumstancesis distinctly visible and rough to the touch. Katie's ears areunpierced, whilst Miss Cook habitually wears ear-rings. Katie'scomplexion is very fair, while that of Miss Cook is very dark. Katie'sfingers are much longer than Miss Cook's, and her face is also larger.In manners and ways of expression there are also many decideddifferences.

In a later contribution, he adds:

Having seen so much of Katie lately, when she has been illuminated bythe electric light, I am enabled to add to the points of differencebetween her and her medium which I mentioned in a former article. I havethe most absolute certainty that Miss Cook and Katie are two separateindividuals so far as their bodies are concerned. Several little markson Miss Cook's face are absent on Katie's. Miss Cook's hair is so dark abrown as almost to appear black; a lock of Katie's, which is now beforeme, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, havingfirst traced it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actuallygrew there, is a rich golden auburn.

On one evening I timed Katie's pulse. It beat steadily at 75, whilstMiss Cook's pulse a little time after was going at its usual rate of 90.On applying my ear to Katie's chest, I could hear a heart beatingrhythmically inside, and pulsating even more steadily than did MissCook's heart when she allowed me to try a similar experiment after theseance. Tested in the same way, Katie's lungs were found to be sounderthan her medium's, for at the time I tried my experiment Miss Cook wasunder medical treatment for a severe cough.

Crookes took forty-four photographs of Katie King by the aid of electriclight. Writing in THE SPIRITUALIST (1874, p. 270), he describes themethods he adopted:

During the week before Katie took her departure, she gave seances at myhouse almost nightly, to enable me to photograph her by artificiallight. Five complete sets of photographic apparatus were accordinglyfitted up for the purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of thewhole-plate size, one half-plate, one quarter-plate, and two binocularstereoscopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon Katie at thesame time on each occasion on which she stood for her portrait. Fivesensitizing and fixing baths were used, and plenty of plates werecleaned ready for use in advance, so that there might be no hitch ordelay during the photographing operations, which were performed bymyself, aided by one assistant.

My library was used as a dark cabinet. It has folding doors opening intothe laboratory; one of these doors was taken off its hinges, and acurtain suspended in its place to enable Katie to pass in and outeasily. Those of our friends who were present were seated in thelaboratory facing the curtain, and the cameras were placed a littlebehind them, ready to photograph Katie when she came outside, and tophotograph anything also inside the cabinet, whenever the curtain waswithdrawn for the purpose. Each evening there were three or fourexposures of plates in the five cameras, giving at least fifteenseparate pictures at each seance; some of these were spoilt in thedeveloping, and some in regulating the amount of light. Altogether Ihave forty-four negatives, some inferior, some indifferent, and someexcellent.

Some of these photographs are in the author's possession, and surelythere is no more wonderful impression upon any plate than that whichshows Crookes at the height of his manhood, with this angel-for such intruth she was-leaning upon his arm. The word "angel" may seem anexaggeration, but when an other-world spirit submits herself to thediscomforts of temporary and artificial existence in order to convey thelesson of survival to a material and worldly generation, there is nomore fitting term.

Some controversy has arisen as to whether Crookes ever saw the mediumand Katie at the same moment. Crookes says in the course of his reportthat he frequently followed Katie into the cabinet, "and have sometimesseen her and her medium together, but most generally I have found nobodybut the entranced medium lying on the floor, Katie and her white robeshaving instantaneously disappeared."

Much more direct testimony, however, is given by Crookes in a letter tothe BANNER OF LIGHT (U.S.A.), which is reproduced in THE SPIRITUALIST(London) of July 17, 1874, p. 29. He writes:

In reply to your request, I beg to state that I saw Miss Cook and Katietogether at the same moment, by the light of a phosphorus lamp, whichwas quite sufficient to enable me to see distinctly all I described. Thehuman eye will naturally take in a wide angle, and thus the two figureswere included in my field of vision at the same time, but the lightbeing dim, and the two faces being several feet apart, I naturallyturned the lamp and my eyes alternately from one to the other, when Idesired to bring either Miss Cook's or Katie's face to that portion ofmy field of view where vision is most distinct. Since the occurrencehere referred to took place, Katie and Miss Cook have been seen togetherby myself and eight other persons, in my own house, illuminated by thefull blaze of the electric light. On this occasion Miss Cook's face wasnot visible, as her head had to be closely bound up in a thick shawl,but I specially satisfied myself that she was there. An attempt to throwthe light direct on to her uncovered face, when entranced, was attendedwith serious consequences.

The camera, too, emphasizes the points of difference between the mediumand the form. He says:

One of the most interesting of the pictures is one in which I amstanding by the side of Katie; she has her bare foot upon a particularpart of the floor. Afterwards I dressed Miss Cook like Katie, placed herand myself in exactly the same position, and we were photographed by thesame cameras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and illuminatedby the same light. When these two pictures are placed over each other,the two photographs of myself coincide exactly as regards stature, etc.,but Katie is half a head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a big woman incomparison with her. In the breadth of her face, in many of thepictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium, and thephotographs show several other points of difference.

Crookes pays a high tribute to the medium, Florence Cook:

The almost daily seances with which Miss Cook has lately favoured mehave proved a severe tax upon her strength, and I wish to make the mostpublic acknowledgment of the obligations I am under to her for herreadiness to assist me in my experiments. Every test that I haveproposed she has at once agreed to submit to with the utmostwillingness; she is open and straightforward in speech, and I have neverseen anything approaching the slightest symptom of a wish to deceive.Indeed, I do not believe she could carry on a deception if she were totry, and if she did she would certainly be found out very quickly, forsuch a line of action is altogether foreign to her nature. And toimagine that an innocent schoolgirl of fifteen should be able toconceive and then successfully carry out for three years so gigantic animposture as this, and in that time should submit to any test whichmight be imposed upon her, should bear the strictest scrutiny, should bewilling to be searched at any time, either before or after a seance, andshould meet with even better success in my own house than at that of herparents, knowing that she visited me with the express object ofsubmitting to strict scientific tests-to imagine, I say, the Katie Kingof the last three years to be the result of imposture, does moreviolence to one's reason and common sense than to believe her to be whatshe herself affirms.*

* "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism."

Granting that a temporary form was built up from the ectoplasm ofFlorence Cook, and that this form was then occupied and used by anindependent being who called herself "Katie King," we are still facedwith the question, "Who was Katie King?" To this we can only give theanswer which she gave herself, while admitting that we have no proof ofit. She declared that she was the daughter of John King, who had longbeen known among Spiritualists as the presiding spirit at seances heldfor material phenomena. His personality is discussed later in thechapter upon the Eddy brothers and Mrs. Holmes, to which the reader isreferred. Her earth name had been Morgan, and King was rather thegeneral title of a certain class of spirits than an ordinary name. Herlife had been spent two hundred years before, in the reign of Charlesthe Second, in the island of Jamaica. Whether this be true or not, sheundoubtedly conformed to the part, and her general conversation wasconsistent with her account. One of the daughters of Professor Crookeswrote to the author and described her vivid recollection of tales of theSpanish Main told by this kindly spirit to the children of the family.She made herself beloved by all. Mrs. Crookes wrote:

At a seance with Miss Cook in our own house when one of our sons was aninfant of three weeks old, Katie King, a materialized spirit, expressedthe liveliest interest in him and asked to be allowed to see the baby.The infant was accordingly brought into the seance room and placed inthe arms of Katie, who, after holding him in the most natural way for ashort time, smilingly gave him back again.

Professor Crookes has left it on record that her beauty and charm wereunique in his experience.

The reader may reasonably think that the subdued light which has beenalluded to goes far to vitiate the results by preventing exactobservation. Professor Crookes has assured us, however, that as theseries of seances proceeded toleration was established, and the figurewas able to bear a far greater degree of light. This toleration had itslimits, however, which were never passed by Professor Crookes, but whichwere tested to the full in a daring experiment described by MissFlorence Marryat (Mrs. Ross-Church). It should be stated that ProfessorCrookes was not present at this experience, nor did Miss Marryat everclaim that he was. She mentions, however, the name of Mr. Carter Hall asbeing one of the company present. Katie had very good-humouredlyconsented to testing what the effect would be if a full light wereturned upon her image:

She took up her station against the drawing-room wall, with her armsextended as if she were crucified. Then three gas-burners were turned onto their full extent in a room about sixteen feet square. The effectupon Katie King was marvellous. She looked like herself for the space ofa second only, then she began gradually to melt away. I can compare thedematerialization of her form to nothing but a wax doll melting before ahot fire. First the features became blurred and indistinct; they seemedto run into each other. The eyes sunk in the sockets, the nosedisappeared, the frontal bone fell in. Next the limbs appeared to giveway under her, and she sank lower and lower on the carpet, like acrumbling edifice. At last there was nothing but her head left above theground-then a heap of white drapery only, which disappeared with awhisk, as if a hand had pulled it after her--and we were left staring bythe light of three gas-burners at the spot on which Katie King hadstood.*

* "There Is No Death," p. 143.

Miss Marryat adds the interesting detail that at some of these seancesMiss Cook's hair was nailed to the ground, which did not in the leastinterfere with the subsequent emergence of Katie from the cabinet.

The results obtained in his own home were honestly and fearlesslyreported by Professor Crookes in his Journal, and caused the greatestpossible commotion in the scientific world. A few of the larger spirits,men like Russel Wallace, Lord Rayleigh, the young and rising physicistWilliam Barrett, Cromwell Varley, and others, had their former viewsconfirmed, or were encouraged to advance upon a new path of knowledge.There was a fiercely intolerant party, however, headed by Carpenter thephysiologist, who derided the matter and were ready to impute anythingfrom lunacy to fraud to their illustrious colleague. Organized sciencecarne badly out of the matter. In his published account Crookes gave theletters in which he asked Stokes, the secretary of the Royal Society, tocome down and see these things with his own eyes. By his refusal to doso, Stokes placed himself in exactly the same position as thosecardinals who would not look at the moons of Jupiter through Galileo'stelescope. Material science, when faced with a new problem, showeditself to be just as bigoted as mediaeval theology.

Before quitting the subject of Katie King one should say a few words asto the future of the great medium from whom she had her physical being.Miss Cook became Mrs. Corner, but continued to exhibit her remarkablepowers. The author is only aware of one occasion upon which the honestyof her mediumship was called in question, and that was when she wasseized by Sir George Sitwell and accused of personating a spirit. Theauthor is of opinion that a materializing medium should always besecured so that she cannot wander around-and this as a protectionagainst herself. It is unlikely that she will move in deep trance, butin the half-trance condition there is nothing to prevent herunconsciously, or semi-consciously, or in obedience to suggestion fromthe expectations of the circle, wandering out of the cabinet into theroom. It is a reflection of our own ignorance that a lifetime of proofshould be clouded by a single episode of this nature. It is worthy ofremark, however, that upon this occasion the observers agreed that thefigure was white, whereas when Mrs. Corner was seized no white was to beseen. An experienced investigator would probably have concluded thatthis was not a materialization, but a transfiguration, which means thatthe ectoplasm, being insufficient to build up a complete figure, hasbeen used to drape the medium so that she herself may carry thesimulacrum. Commenting upon such cases, the great German investigator,Dr. Schrenck Notzing, says*:

* "Phenomena of Materialization" (English Translation).

This (a photograph) is interesting as throwing a light on the genesis ofthe so-called transfiguration, I.E. Éthe medium takes upon herself thepart of the spirit, endeavouring to dramatize the character of theperson in question by clothing herself in the materialized fabrics. Thistransition stage is found in nearly all materialization mediums. Theliterature of the subject records a large number of attempts at exposureof mediums thus impersonating "spirits," e.g. that of the medium Bastianby the Crown Prince Rudolph, that of Crookes's medium, Miss Cook, thatof Madame d'Esperance, etc. In all these cases the medium was seized,but the fabrics used for masking immediately disappeared, and were notafterwards found.

It would appear, then, that the true reproach in such cases lies withthe negligent sitters rather than with the unconscious medium.

The sensational nature of Professor Crookes's experiments with MissCook, and the fact, no doubt, that they seemed more vulnerable toattack, have tended to obscure his very positive results with Home andwith Miss Fox, which have established the powers of those mediums upon asolid basis. Crookes soon found the usual difficulties which researchersencounter, but he had sense enough to realize that in an entirely newsubject one has to adapt oneself to the conditions, and not abandon thestudy in disgust because the conditions refuse to adapt themselves toour own preconceived ideas. Thus, in speaking of Home, he says:

The experiments I have tried have been very numerous, but owing to ourimperfect knowledge of the conditions which favour or oppose themanifestations of this force, to the apparently capricious manner inwhich it is exerted, and to the fact that Mr. Home himself is subject tounaccountable ebbs and flows of the force, it has but seldom happenedthat a result obtained on one occasion could be subsequently confirmedand tested with apparatus specially contrived for the purpose.*

* "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," p. 10.

The most marked of these results was the alteration in the weight ofobjects, which was afterwards so completely confirmed by Dr. Crawfordworking with the Goligher circle, and also in the course of the"Margery" investigation at Boston. Heavy objects could be made light,and light ones heavy, by the action of some unseen force which appearedto be under the influence of an independent intelligence. The checks bywhich all possible fraud was eliminated are very fully set out in therecord of the experiments, and must convince any unprejudiced reader.Dr. Huggins, the well-known authority on the spectroscope, and SerjeantCox, the eminent lawyer, together with several other spectators,witnessed the experiments. As already recorded, however, Crookes foundit impossible to get some of the official heads of science to give thematter one hour of their attention.

The playing upon musical instruments, especially an accordion, undercircumstances when it was impossible to reach the notes, was another ofthe phenomena which was very thoroughly examined and then certified byCrookes and his distinguished assistants. Granting that the medium hashimself the knowledge which would enable him to play the instrument, theauthor is not prepared to admit that such a phenomenon is an absoluteproof of independent intelligence. When once the existence of an ethericbody is granted, with limbs which correspond with our own, there is noobvious reason why a partial detachment should not take place, and whythe etheric fingers should not be placed upon the keys while thematerial ones remain upon the medium's lap. The problem resolves itself,then, into the simpler proposition that the medium's brain can commandhis etheric fingers, and that those fingers can be supplied withsufficient force to press down the keys. Very many psychic phenomena,the reading with blindfolded eyes, the touching of distant objects, andso forth, may, in the opinion of the author, be referred to the ethericbody and may be classed rather under a higher and subtler materialismthan under Spiritualism. They are in a class quite distinct from thosemental phenomena such as evidential messages from the dead, which formthe true centre of the spiritual movement. In speaking of Miss Kate Fox,Professor Crookes says: "I have observed many circumstances which appearto show that the will and intelligence of the medium have much to dowith the phenomena." He adds that this is not in any conscious ordishonest way, and continues, "I have observed some circumstances whichseem conclusively to point to the agency of an outside intelligence notbelonging to any human being in the room." * This is the point which theauthor has attempted to make as expressed by an authority far higherthan his own.

* "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," p. 95.

The phenomena which were chiefly established in the investigation ofMiss Kate Fox were the movement of objects at a distance, and theproduction of percussive sounds-or raps. The latter covered a greatrange of sound, "delicate ticks, sharp sounds as from an induction coilin full work, detonations in the air, sharp metallic taps, a cracklinglike that heard when a frictional machine is at work, sounds likescratching, the twittering as of a bird, etc." All of us who have hadexperience of these sounds have been compelled to ask ourselves how farthey are under the control of the medium. The author has come to theconclusion, as already stated, that up to a point they are under thecontrol of the medium, and that beyond that point they are not. Hecannot easily forget the distress and embarrassment of a greatNorth-country medium when in the author's presence loud raps, soundinglike the snapping of fingers, broke out round his head in thecoffee-room of a Doncaster hotel. If he had any doubts that raps wereindependent of the medium they were finally set at rest upon thatoccasion. As to the objectivity of these noises, Crookes says of MissKate Fox:

* "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," p. 86.

It seems only necessary for her to place her hand on any substance forloud thuds to be heard in it, like a triple pulsation, sometimes loudenough to be heard several rooms off. In this manner I have heard themin a living tree-on a sheet of glass-on a stretched iron wire-on astretched membrane-a tambourine-on the roof of a cab-and on the floor ofa theatre. Moreover, actual contact is not always necessary. I have hadthese sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, etc., when the medium'shands and feet were held-when she was standing on a chair-when she wassuspended in a swing from the ceiling-when she was enclosed in a wirecage-and when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I have heard them on aglass harmonicon-I have felt them on my own shoulder and under my ownhands. I have heard them on a sheet of paper, held between the fingersby a piece of thread passed through one corner. With a full knowledge ofthe numerous theories which have been started, chiefly in America, toexplain these sounds, I have tested them in every way that I coulddevise, until there has been no escape from the conviction that theywere true objective occurrences not produced by trickery or mechanicalmeans.

So finishes the legend of cracking toe joints, dropping apples, and allthe other absurd explanations which have been put forward to explainaway the facts. It is only fair to say, however, that the painfulincidents connected with the latter days of the Fox sisters go some wayto justify those who, without knowing the real evidence, have had theirattention drawn to that single episode-which is treated elsewhere.

It has sometimes been supposed that Crookes modified or withdrew hisopinions upon psychic subjects as expressed in 1874. It may at least besaid that the violence of the opposition, and the timidity of those whomight have supported him, did alarm him and that he felt his scientificposition to be in danger. Without going the length of subterfuge, he didunquestionably shirk the question. He refused to have his articles uponthe subject republished, and he would not circulate the wonderfulphotographs in which the materialized Katie King stood arm-in-arm withhimself. He was exceedingly cautious also in defining his position. In aletter quoted by Professor Angelo Brofferio, he says*:

* "Fur den Spiritismus," Leipzig, 1894, p. 319.

All that I am concerned in is that invisible and intelligent beingsexist who say that they are the spirits of dead persons. But proof thatthey really are the individuals they assume to be, which I require inorder to believe it, I have never received, though I am disposed toadmit that many of my friends assert that they have actually obtainedthe desired proofs, and I myself have already frequently been many timeson the verge of this conviction.

As he grew older, however, this conviction hardened, or perhaps hebecame more conscious of the moral responsibilities which suchexceptional experiences must entail.

In his presidential address before the British Association at Bristol in1898, Sir William briefly referred to his earlier researches. He said:

Upon one other interest I have not yet touched-to me the weightiest andfarthest-reaching of all. No incident in my scientific career is morewidely known than the part I took many years ago in certain psychicresearches. Thirty years have passed since I published an account ofexperiments tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge thereexists a Force exercised by intelligence differing from the ordinaryintelligence common to mortalsÉ. I have nothing to retract. I adhere tomy already published statements. Indeed, I might add much thereto.

Nearly twenty years later his belief was stronger than ever. In thecourse of an interview, he said*:

* THE INTERNATIONAL PSYCHIC GAZETTE, December, 1917, pp. 61-2.

I have never had any occasion to change my mind on the subject. I amperfectly satisfied with what I have said in earlier days. It is quitetrue that a connexion has been set up between this world and the next.

In reply to the question whether Spiritualism had not killed the oldmaterialism of the scientists, he added:

I think it has. It has at least convinced the great majority of people,who know anything about the subject, of the existence of the next world.

The author has had an opportunity lately, through the courtesy of Mr.Thomas Blyton, of seeing the letter of condolence written by Sir WilliamCrookes on the occasion of the death of Mrs. Corner. It is dated April24, 1904, and in it he says: "Convey Lady Crookes's and my own sincerestsympathy to the family in their irreparable loss. We trust that thecertain belief that our loved ones, when they have passed over, arestill watching over us-a belief which owes so much of its certainty tothe mediumship of Mrs. Corner (or Florence Cook, as she will always bein our memory-will strengthen and console those who are left behind."The daughter in announcing the death said, "She died in deep peace andhappiness."

CHAPTER XII

THE EDDY BROTHERS AND THE HOLMESES

It is difficult within any reasonable compass to follow the rise ofvarious mediums in the United States, and a study of one or twooutstanding cases must typify the whole. The years 1874 and 1875 wereyears of great psychic activity, bringing conviction to some and scandalto others. On the whole the scandal seems to have predominated, butwhether rightly or not is a question which may well be debated. Theopponents of psychic truth having upon their side the clergy of thevarious churches, organized science, and the huge inert bulk of materialmankind, had the lay Press at their command, with the result thateverything that was in its favour was suppressed or contorted, andeverything which could tell against it was given the widest publicity.Hence, a constant checking of past episodes and reassessment of oldvalues are necessary. Even at the present day the air is charged withprejudice. If any man of standing at the present instant were to enter aLondon newspaper office and say that he had detected a medium in fraud,the matter would be seized upon eagerly and broadcast over the country;while if the same man proclaimed that he had beyond all questionsatisfied himself that the phenomena were true, it is doubtful if hewould get a paragraph. The scale is always heavily weighted. In America,where there is practically no Libel Act, and where the Press is oftenviolent and sensational, this state of things was-and possibly is-evenmore in evidence.

The first outstanding incident was the mediumship of the Eddy brothers,which has probably never been excelled in the matter of materialization,or, as we may now call them, ectoplasmic forms. The difficulty at thatdate in accepting such phenomena lay in the fact that they seemed to beregulated by no known law, and to be isolated from all our experiencesof Nature. The labours of Geley, Crawford, Madame Bisson, SchrenckNotzing and others have removed this, and have given us, what is at thelowest, a complete scientific hypothesis, sustained by prolonged andcareful investigations, so that we can bring some order into the matter.This did not exist in 1874, and we can well sympathize with the doubt ofeven the most honest and candid minds, when they were asked to believethat two rude farmers, unmannered and uneducated, could produce resultswhich were denied to the rest of the world and utterly inexplicable toscience.

The Eddy brothers, Horatio and William, were primitive folk farming asmall holding at the hamlet of Chittenden, near Rutland, in the State ofVermont. An observer has described them as "sensitive, distant and curtwith strangers, look more like hard-working rough farmers than prophetsor priests of a new dispensation, have dark complexions, black hair andeyes, stiff joints, a clumsy carriage, shrink from advances, and makenew-comers ill at ease and unwelcome. They are at feud with some oftheir neighbours and not likedÉ. They are, in fact, under the ban of apublic opinion that is not prepared or desirous to study the phenomenaas either scientific marvels or revelations from another world."

The rumours of the strange doings which occurred in the Eddy homesteadhad got abroad, and raised an excitement similar to that caused by theKoons's music-room in earlier days. Folk came from all parts toinvestigate. The Eddys seem to have had ample, if rude, accommodationfor their guests, and to have boarded them in a great room with theplaster stripping off the walls and the food as simple as thesurroundings. For this board, of course, they charged at a low rate, butthey do not seem to have made any profit out of their psychicdemonstrations.

A good deal of curiosity had been aroused in Boston and New York by thereports of what was happening, and a New York paper, the Daily Graphic,sent up Colonel Olcott as investigator. Olcott was not at that timeidentified with any psychic movement-indeed, his mind was prejudicedagainst it, and he approached his task rather in the spirit of an"exposer." He was a man of clear brain and outstanding ability, with ahigh sense of honour. No one can read the very full and intimate detailsof his own life which are contained in his "Old Diary Leaves" withoutfeeling a respect for the man-loyal to a fault, unselfish, and with thatrare moral courage which will follow truth and accept results even whenthey oppose one's expectations and desires. He was no mystic dreamer buta very practical man of affairs, and some of his psychic researchobservations have met with far less attention than they deserve.

Olcott remained for ten weeks in the Vermont atmosphere, which must initself have been a feat of considerable endurance, with plain fare, hardliving and uncongenial hosts. He came away with something very near topersonal dislike for his morose entertainers, and at the same time withabsolute confidence in their psychic powers. Like every wiseinvestigator, he refuses to give blank certificates of character, andwill not answer for occasions upon which he was not present, nor for thefuture conduct of those whom he is judging. He confines himself to hisactual experience, and in fifteen remarkable articles which appeared inthe NEW YORK DAILY GRAPHIC in October and November, 1874, he gave hisfull results and the steps which he had taken to check them. Readingthese, it is difficult to suggest any precaution which he had omitted.

His first care was to examine the Eddy history. It was a good but not aspotless record. It cannot be too often insisted upon that the medium isa mere instrument and that the gift has no relation to character. Thisapplies to physical phenomena, but not to mental, for no high teachingcould ever come through a low channel. There was nothing wrong in therecord of the brothers, but they had once admittedly given a fakemediumistic show, announcing it as such and exposing tricks. This wasprobably done to raise the wind and also to conciliate their bigotedneighbours, who were incensed against the real phenomena. Whatever thecause or motive, it naturally led Olcott to be very circumspect in hisdealings, since it showed an intimate knowledge of tricks.

The ancestry was most interesting, for not only was there an unbrokenrecord of psychic power extending over several generations, but theirgrand mother four times removed had been burned as a witch-or at leasthad been sentenced to that fate in the famous Salem trials of 1692.There are many living now who would be just as ready to take this shortway with our mediums as ever Cotton Mather was, but police prosecutionsare the modern equivalent. The father of the Eddys was unhappily one ofthose narrow persecuting fanatics. Olcott declares that the childrenwere marked for life by the blows which he gave them in order todiscourage what he chose to look upon as diabolical powers. The mother,who was herself strongly psychic, knew how unjustly this "religious"brute was acting, and the homestead must have become a hell upon earth.There was no refuge for the children outside, for the psychic phenomenaused to follow them even into the schoolroom, and excite the revilingsof the ignorant young barbarians around them. At home, when young Eddyfell into a trance, the father and a neighbour poured boiling water overhim and placed a red-hot coal on his head, leaving an indelible scar.The lad fortunately slept on. Is it to be wondered at that after such achildhood the children should have grown into morose and secretive men?

As they grew older the wretched father tried to make some money out ofthe powers which he had so brutally discouraged, and hired the childrenout as mediums. No one has ever yet adequately described the sufferingswhich public mediums used to undergo at the hands of idioticinvestigators and cruel sceptics. Olcott testifies that the hands andarms of the sisters as well as the brothers were grooved with the marksof ligatures and scarred with burning sealing wax, while two of thegirls had pieces of flesh pinched out by handcuffs. They were ridden onrails, beaten, fired at, stoned and chased while their cabinet wasrepeatedly broken to pieces. The blood oozed from their finger-nailsfrom the compression of arteries. These were the early days in America,but Great Britain has little to boast of when one recalls the Davenportbrothers and the ignorant violence of the Liverpool mob.

The Eddys seem to have covered about the whole range of physicalmediumship. Olcott gives the list thus-rappings, movement of objects,painting in oils and water-colours under influence, prophecy, speakingstrange tongues, healing, discernment of spirits, levitation, writing ofmessages, psychometry, clairvoyance, and finally the production ofmaterialized forms. Since St. Paul first enumerated the gifts of thespirit no more comprehensive list has ever been given.

The method of the seances was that the medium should sit in a cabinet atone end of the room, and that his audience should occupy rows of benchesin front of him. The inquirer will probably ask why there should be acabinet at all, and extended experience has shown that it can, as amatter of fact, be dispensed with save in this particular crowningphenomenon of materialization. Home never used a cabinet, and it isseldom used by our chief British mediums of to-day. There is, however, avery definite reason for its presence. Without being too didactic upon asubject which is still under examination, it may at least be stated, asa working hypothesis with a great deal to recommend it, that theectoplasmic vapour which solidifies into the plasmic substance fromwhich the forms are constructed can be more easily condensed in alimited space. It has been found, however, that the presence of themedium within that space is not needful. At the greatest materializationseance which the author has ever attended, where some twenty forms ofvarious ages and sizes appeared in one evening, the medium sat outsidethe door of the cabinet from which the shapes emerged. Presumably,according to the hypothesis, his ectoplasmic vapour was conducted intothe confined space, irrespective of the position of his physical body.This had not been recognized at the date of this investigation, so thecabinet was employed.

It is obvious, however, that the cabinet offered a means for fraud andimpersonation, so it had to be carefully examined. It was on the secondfloor, with one small window. Olcott had the window netted with amosquito curtain fastened on the outside. The rest of the cabinet wassolid wood and unapproachable save by the room in which the spectatorswere sitting. There seems to have been no possible opening for fraud.Olcott had it examined by an expert, whose certificate is given in thebook.

Under these circumstances Olcott related in his newspaper articles, andafterwards in his remarkable book, "People from the Other World," thathe saw in the course of ten weeks no fewer than four hundred apparitionsappear out of this cabinet, of all sorts, sizes, sexes and races, cladin the most marvellous garments, babies in arms, Indian warriors,gentlemen in evening dress, a Kurd with a nine-foot lance, squaws whosmoked tobacco, ladies in fine costumes. Such was Olcott's evidence, andthere was not a statement he made for which he was not prepared toproduce the evidence of a roomful of people. His story was received withincredulity then, and will excite little less incredulity now. Olcott,full of his subject and knowing his own precautions, chafed, as all ofus chafe, at the criticism of those who had not been present, and whochose to assume that those who were present were dupes and simpletons.He says: "If one tells them of babies being carried in from the cabinetby women, of young girls with lithe forms, yellow hair and shortstature, of old women and men standing in full sight and speaking to us,of half-grown children seen, two at a time, simultaneously with anotherform, of costumes of different makes, of bald heads, grey hair, blackshocky heads of hair, curly hair, of ghosts instantly recognized byfriends, and ghosts speaking audibly in a foreign language of which themedium is ignorant-their equanimity is not disturbedÉ. The credulity ofsome scientific men, too, is boundless-they would rather believe that ababy could lift a mountain without levers, than that a spirit could liftan ounce."

But apart from the extreme sceptic, whom nothing will convince and whowould label the Angel Gabriel at the last day as an optical delusion,there are some very natural objections which an honest novice is boundto make, and an honest believer to answer. What about these costumes?Whence come they? Can we accept a nine-foot lance as being a spiritualobject? The answer lies, so far as we understand it, in the amazingproperties of ectoplasm. It is the most protean substance, capable ofbeing moulded instantly into any shape, and the moulding power is spiritwill, either in or out of the body. Anything may in an instant befashioned from it if the predominating intelligence so decides. At allsuch seances there appears to be present one controlling spiritual beingwho marshals the figures and arranges the whole programme. Sometimes hespeaks and openly directs. Sometimes he is silent and manifests only byhis actions. As already stated, such controls are very often Red Indianswho appear in their spiritual life to have some special affinity withphysical phenomena.

William Eddy, the chief medium for these phenomena, does not appear tohave suffered in health or strength from that which is usually a mostexhausting process. Crookes has testified how Home would "lie in analmost fainting condition on the floor, pale and speechless." Home,however, was not a rude open air farmer, but a sensitive artisticinvalid. Eddy seems to have eaten little, but smoked incessantly. Musicand singing were employed at the seances, for it has long been observedthat there is a close connexion between musical vibrations and psychicresults. White light also has been found to prohibit results, and thisis now explained from the devastating effects which light has been shownto exert upon ectoplasm. Many colours have been tried in order toprevent total darkness, but if you can trust your medium the latter isthe most conducive to results, especially to those results ofphosphorescent and flashing lights which are among the most beautiful ofthe phenomena. If a light is used, red is the colour which is besttolerated. In the Eddy seances there was a subdued illumination from ashaded lamp.

It would be wearisome to the reader to enter into details as to thevarious types which appeared in these remarkable gatherings. MadameBlavatsky, who was then an unknown woman in New York, had come up to seethe sights. At that time she had not yet developed the theosophical lineof thought, and was an ardent Spiritualist. Colonel Olcott and she metfor the first time in the Vermont farm-house, and there began afriendship which was destined in the future to lead to strangedevelopments. In her honour apparently a whole train of Russian imagesappeared, who carried on conversations in that language with the lady.The chief apparitions, however, were a giant Indian named Santum and anIndian squaw named Honto, who materialized so completely and so oftenthat the audience may well have been excused if they forgot sometimesthat they were dealing with spirits at all. So close was the contactthat Olcott measured Honto on a painted scale beside the cabinet door.She was five feet three. On one occasion she exposed her woman's breastand asked a lady present to feel the beating of her heart. Honto was alight-hearted person, fond of dancing, of singing, of smoking, and ofexhibiting her wealth of dark hair to the audience. Santum, on the otherhand, was a taciturn warrior, six feet three in height. The height ofthe medium was five feet nine.

It is worth noting that the Indian always wore a powder-horn, which hadbeen actually given him by a visitor to the circle. This was hung up inthe cabinet and was donned by him when he materialized. Some of the Eddyspirits could speak and others could not, while the amount of fluencyvaried greatly. This was in accordance with the author's experience atsimilar seances. It seems that the returning soul has much to learn whenit handles this simulacrum of itself, and that here, as elsewhere,practice goes for much. In speaking, these figures move their lipsexactly as human beings would do. It has been shown also that theirbreath in lime water produces the characteristic reaction of carbondioxide. Olcott says: "The spirits themselves say that they have tolearn the art of self-materialization, as one would any other art." Atfirst they could only make tangible hands as in the cases of theDavenports, the Foxes, and others. Many mediums never get beyond thisstage.

Among the numerous visitors to the Vermont homestead there werenaturally some who took up a hostile attitude. None of these, however,seems to have gone into the matter with any thoroughness. The one whoattracted most attention was a Dr. Beard, of New York, a medical man,who on the strength of a single sitting contended that the figures wereall impersonations by William Eddy himself. No evidence, and only hisown individual impression is put forward to sustain this view, and hedeclared that he could produce all the effects with "three dollars'worth of theatrical properties." Such an opinion might well be honestlyformed upon a single performance, especially if it should have been amore or less unsuccessful one. But it becomes perfectly untenable whenit is compared with the experiences of those who attended a number ofsittings. Thus, Dr. Hodgson, of Stoneham, Mass., together with fourother witnesses, signed a document: "We certifyÉthat Santum was out onthe platform when another Indian of almost as great a stature came out,and the two passed and re-passed each other as they walked up and down.At the same time a conversation was being carried on between George Dix,Mayflower, old Mr. Morse, and Mrs. Eaton inside the cabinet. Werecognized the familiar voice of each." There are many such testimonies,apart from Olcott, and they put the theory of impersonation quite out ofcourt. It should be added that many of the forms were little childrenand babies in arms. Olcott measured one child two feet four in height.It should, in fairness, be added that the one thing which clouds thereader occasionally is Olcott's own hesitation and reservations. He wasnew to the subject, and every now and then a wave of fear and doubtwould pass over his mind, and he would feel that he had committedhimself too far and that he must hedge in case, in some inexplicableway, he should be shown to be in the wrong. Thus, he says: "The forms Isaw at Chittenden, while apparently defying any other explanation thanthat they are of super-sensual origin, are still as a scientific fact tobe regarded as `not proven.'" Elsewhere he talks about not having "testconditions."

This expression "test conditions" has become a sort of shibboleth whichloses all meaning. Thus, when you say that you have beyond all questionor doubt seen your own dead mother's face before you, the objectorreplies: "Ah, but was it under test conditions?" The test lies in thephenomenon itself. When one considers that Olcott was permitted for tenweeks to examine the little wooden enclosure which served as cabinet, toocclude the window, to search the medium, to measure and to weigh theectoplasmic forms, one wonders what else he would demand in order tomake assurance complete. The fact is, that while Olcott was writing hisaccount there came the alleged exposure of Mrs. Holmes, and the partialrecantation of Mr. Dale Owen, and that this caused him to take theseprecautions.

It was William Eddy whose mediumship took the form of materializations.Horatio Eddy gave seances of quite a different character. In his case asort of cloth screen was fixed up, in front of which he used to sit ingood light with one of his audience beside him holding his hand. Behindthe screen was placed a guitar and other instruments, which presentlybegan to play, apparently of their own accord, while materialized handsshowed themselves over the edge of the screen. The general effect of theperformance was much the same as that of the Davenport brothers, but itwas more impressive, inasmuch as the medium was in full view, and wasunder control by a spectator. The hypothesis of modern psychic science,founded upon many experiments, especially those of Dr. Crawford, ofBelfast, is that invisible bands of ectoplasm, which are ratherconductors of force than forcible in themselves, are evolved from thebody of the medium and connect up with the object to be manipulated,where they are used to raise it, or to play it, as the unseen power maydesire-that unseen power being, according to the present views ofProfessor Charles Richet, some extension of the personality of themedium, and according to the more advanced school some independententity. Of this nothing was known at the time of the Eddys, and thephenomena presented the questionable appearance of a whole series ofeffects without any cause. As to the reality of the fact, it isimpossible to read Olcott's very detailed description without beingconvinced that there could be no error in that. This movement of objectsat a distance from the medium, or TELEKINESIS, to use the modern phrase,is now a rare phenomenon in light, but on one occasion at an amateurcircle of experienced Spiritualists the author has seen a largeplatter-shaped circle of wood in the full light of a candle, rising upon edge and flapping code answers to questions when no one was withinsix feet of it.

In Horatio Eddy's dark seances, where the complete absence of light gavethe psychic power full scope, Olcott has testified that there were madIndian war dances with the thudding of a dozen feet, and the wildplaying of every instrument simultaneously, accompanied by yells andwhoops. "As an exbibition of pure brute force," he says, "this Indiandance is probably unsurpassed in the annals of such manifestations." Alight turned on would find all the instruments littered about the floor,and Horatio in a deep slumber, without a trace of perspiration, lyingunconscious in his chair. Olcott assures us that he and other gentlemenpresent, whose names he gives, were permitted to sit on the medium, butthat within a minute or two all the instruments were playing once again.After such an experiment all further experiences-and there were verymany-seem to be beside the point. Short of wholesale and senseless lyingon the part of Olcott and the other spectators, there can be no doubtthat Horatio Eddy was exercising powers of which science was, and stillis, very imperfectly acquainted.

Some of Olcott's experiments were so definite, and are narrated sofrankly and so clearly, that they deserve respectful consideration, andantedate the work of many of our modern researchers. For example, hebrought from New York a balance which was duly tested as correct with apublished certificate to that effect. He then persuaded one of theforms, the squaw Honto, to stand upon it, the actual weights beingrecorded by a third person, Mr. Pritchard, who was a reputable citizenand disinterested in the matter. Olcott gives his account of theresults, and adds the certificate of Pritchard as sworn to before amagistrate. Honto was weighed four times, standing upon the platform sothat she could not ease her weight in any way. She was a woman five feetthree in height, and might be expected to register about 135 lb. Thefour results were actually 88, 58, 58, and 65 lb., all on the sameevening. This seems to show that her body was a mere simulacrum whichcould vary in density from minute to minute. It showed also what wasclearly brought out afterwards by Crawford, that the whole weight of thesimulacrum cannot be derived from the medium. It is inconceivable thatEddy, who weighed 179 lb., was able to give up 88 of them. The wholecircle, according to their capacity, which varies greatly, are calledupon to contribute, and other elements may in all probability be drawnfrom the atmosphere. The highest actual loss of weight ever shown byMiss Goligher in the Crawford experiments was 52 lb., but each member ofthe circle was shown by the dials on the weighing chairs to havecontributed some substance to the building of the ectoplasmicformations.

Colonel Olcott also prepared two spring balances and tested the pullingpower of the spirit hands, while those of the medium were held by one ofthe audience. A left hand pulled with a force of forty lb., and theright hand with fifty in a light which was so good that Olcott couldclearly see that the right hand was one finger short. He was alreadyfamiliar with the assertion of the spirit in question that he had been asailor and had lost a finger in his lifetime. When one reads of suchthings the complaint of Olcott that his results were not final, and thathe had not perfect test conditions, becomes more and more hard tocomprehend. He winds up his conclusions, however, with the words: "Nomatter how many sceptics carne battering against these granitic facts,no matter what array of 'exposers' might blow their tin horns and pennytrumpets, that Jericho would stand."

One observation which Olcott made was that these ectoplasmic forms werequick to obey any mental order from a strong-minded sitter, coming andgoing as they were willed to do. Other observers in various seances havenoted the same fact, and it may be taken as one of the fixed points inthis baffling problem.

There is one other curious point which probably escaped Olcott's notice.The mediums and the spirits who had been fairly amiable to him duringhis long visit turned suddenly very acid and repellent. This changeseems to have occurred just after the arrival of Madame Blavatsky, withwhom Olcott had struck up a close comradeship. Madame was, as stated, anardent Spiritualist at the time, but it is at least possible that thespirits may have had foresight, and that they sensed danger from thisRussian lady. Her theosophical teachings which were put forward in ayear or two were to take the shape that, although the phenomena werereal, the spirits were empty astral shells, and had no true life oftheir own. Whatever the true explanation, the change in the spirits wasremarkable. "So far from the importance of my labour being recognizedand all reasonable facilities afforded, I was kept constantly at adistance, as though I were an enemy instead of an unprejudicedobserver."

Colonel Olcott narrates many cases where the sitters have recognizedspirits, but too much stress should not be laid upon this, as with a dimlight and an emotional condition it is easy for an honest observer to bemistaken. The author has had the opportunity of gazing into the faces ofat least a hundred of these images, and he can only recall two cases inwhich he was absolutely certain in his recognition. In both these casesthe faces were self-illuminated, and he had not to depend upon the redlamp. There were two other occasions when, with the red lamp, he wasmorally certain, but in the vast majority of cases it was possible, ifone allowed one's imagination to work, to read anything into the vaguemoulds which rose before one. It is likely that this occurred in theEddy circle-indeed, C. C. Massey, a very competent judge, sitting withthe Eddys in 1875, complained of the fact. The real miracle consistednot in the recognition but in the presence of the figure at all.

There can be no doubt that the interest aroused by the Press accounts ofthe Eddy phenomena might have caused a more serious treatment of psychicscience, and possibly advanced the cause of truth by a generation.Unhappily, at the very moment when the public attention was stronglydrawn to the subject there came the real or imaginary scandal of theHolmeses at Philadelphia, which was vigorously exploited by thematerialists, helped by the exaggerated honesty of Robert Dale Owen. Thefacts were as follows:

Two mediums in Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Holmes, had given aseries of seances at which an alleged spirit had continually appeared,which took the name of Katie King, and professed to be the same as thatwith which Professor Crookes had experimented in London. On the face ofit the assertion seemed most doubtful since the original Katie King hadclearly stated that her mission was ended. However, apart from theidentity of the spirit, there seemed to be good evidence that thephenomenon was genuine and not fraudulent, for it was most fullyendorsed by Mr. Dale Owen, General Lippitt, and a number of otherobservers, who quoted personal experiences which were entirely beyondthe reach of imposture.

There was in Philadelphia at the time a Dr. Child, who plays a veryambiguous part in the obscure events which followed. Child had vouchedfor the genuine character of these phenomena in the most pronounced way.He had gone so far as to state in a pamphlet published in 1874 that thesame John and Katie King, whom he had seen in the seance room, had cometo him in his own private offices and had there dictated particulars oftheir earth life which he duly published. Such a statement must raisegrave doubts in the mind of any psychic student, for a spirit form canonly manifest from a medium, and there is no indication that Child wasone. In any case one would imagine that, after such an assertion, Childwas the last man in the world who could declare that the seances werefraudulent.

Great public interest had been aroused in the seances by an article byGeneral Lippitt in the Galaxy of December, 1874, and another by DaleOwen in the ATLANTIC MONTHLY of January, 1875. Then suddenly came thecrash. It was heralded by a notice from Dale Owen, dated January 5, tothe effect that evidence had been laid before him which compelled him towithdraw his previous expressions of confidence in the Holmeses. Asimilar card was issued by Dr. Child. Writing to Olcott, who after hisEddy investigation was recognized as an authority, Dale Owen said: "Ibelieve they have been latterly playing us false, which may be onlysupplementing the genuine with the spurious, but it does cast a doubt onlast summer's manifestations, so that I shall probably not use them inmy next book on Spiritualism. It is a loss, but you and Mr. Crookes haveamply made it up."

Dale Owen's position is clear enough, since he was a man of sensitivehonour, who was horrified at the idea that he could for one instant havecertified an imposture to be a truth. His error seems to have lain inacting upon the first breath of suspicion instead of waiting until thefacts were clear. Dr. Child's position is, however, more questionable,for if the manifestations were indeed fraudulent, how could he possiblyhave had interviews with the same spirits alone in his own private room?

It was asserted now that a woman, whose name was not given, had beenimpersonating Katie King at these seances, that she had allowed herphotograph to be taken and sold as Katie King, that she could producethe robes and ornaments worn by Katie King at the seances, and that shewas prepared to make a full confession. Nothing could appear to be moredamning and more complete. It was at this point that Olcott took up theinvestigation, and he seems to have been quite prepared to find that thegeneral verdict was correct.

His investigation soon revealed some facts, however, which threw freshlights upon the matter and proved that psychic research in order to beaccurate should examine "exposures" with the same critical care that itdoes phenomena. The name of the person who confessed that she hadpersonated Katie King was revealed as Eliza White. In an account of thematter which she published, without giving the name, she declared thatshe had been born in 1851, which would make her twenty-three years ofage. She had married at fifteen and had one child eight years old. Herhusband had died in 1872, and she had to keep herself and child. TheHolmeses had come to lodge with her in March, 1874. In May they engagedher to personate a spirit. The cabinet had a false panel at the backthrough which she could slip, clad in a muslin robe. Mr. Dale Owen wasinvited to the seances and was completely taken in. All this causedviolent twinges of her own conscience which did not prevent her fromgoing to greater lengths and learning to fade away or re-form by thehelp of black cloths, and finally, of being photographed as Katie King.

One day, according to her account, there came to her performance a mannamed Leslie, a railroad contractor. This gentleman showed hissuspicions, and at a subsequent interview taxed her with her deceit,offering her pecuniary aid if she would confess to it. This sheaccepted, and then showed Leslie the methods of her impersonation. OnDecember 5, a mock seance was held at which she rehearsed her part asplayed in the real seances, and this so impressed Dale Owen and also Dr.Child, both of whom were present, that they issued the notices in whichthey recanted their former belief-a recantation which was a staggeringblow to those who had accepted Dale Owen's previous assurances, and whonow claimed that he should have made some thorough investigation beforeissuing such a document. It was the more painful as Dale Owen wasseventy-three years of age, and had been one of the most eloquent andpainstaking of all the disciples of the new dispensation.

Olcott's first task was to sift the record already given, and to getpast the anonymity of the authoress. He soon discovered that she was, asalready stated, Mrs. Eliza White, and that, though in Philadelphia, sherefused to see him. The Holmeses, on the other hand, acted in a veryopen manner towards him and offered him every facility for examiningtheir phenomena with such reasonable test conditions as he might desire.An examination of the past life of Eliza White showed that herstatement, so far as it concerned her own story, was a tissue of lies.She was very much older than stated-not less than thirty-five-and it wasdoubtful whether she had ever been married to White at all. For yearsshe had been a vocalist in a travelling show. White was still alive, sothere was no question of widowhood. Olcott published the certificate ofthe Chief of the Police to that effect.

Among other documents put forward by Colonel Olcott was one from a Mr.Allen, Justice of the Peace of New Jersey, given under oath. ElizaWhite, according to this witness, was "so untruthful that those to whomshe spoke never knew when to believe her, and her moral reputation wasas bad as bad could be." Judge Allen was able, however, to give sometestimony which bore more directly upon the matter under discussion. Hedeposed that he had visited the Holmeses in Philadelphia, and hadassisted Dr. Child to put up the cabinet, that it was solidlyconstructed, and that there was no possibility of any entrance beingeffected from behind, as alleged by Mrs. White. Further, that he was ata seance at which Katie King appeared, and that the proceedings had beendisturbed by the singing of Mrs. White in another room, so that it wasquite impossible that Mrs. White could, as she claimed, have acted animpersonation of the spirit. This being a sworn deposition by a justiceof the Peace would seem to be a weighty piece of evidence.

This cabinet seems to have been made in June, for General Lippitt, anexcellent witness, described quite another arrangement on the occasionwhen he experimented. He says that two doors folded backwards, so as totouch each other, and the cabinet was simply the recess between thesedoors with a board over the top. "The first two or three evenings I madea careful examination, and once with a professional magician, who wasperfectly satisfied that there was no chance of any trick." This was inMay, so the two descriptions are not contradictory, save to ElizaWhite's claim that she could pass into the cabinet.

In addition to these reasons for caution in forming an opinion, theHolmeses were able to produce letters written to them from Mrs. White inAugust, 1874, which were quite incompatible with there being any guiltysecret between them. On the other hand, one of these letters did relatethat efforts had been made to bribe her into a confession that she hadbeen Katie King. Later in the year Mrs. White seems to have assumed amore threatening tone, as is sworn by the Holmeses in a formalaffidavit, when she declared that unless they paid a rent which sheclaimed, there were a number of gentlemen of wealth, including membersof the Young Men's Christian Association, who were ready to pay her alarge sum of money, and she need not trouble the Holmeses any more. Athousand dollars was the exact sum which Eliza White was to get if shewould consent to admit that she impersonated Katie King. It must surelybe conceded that this statement, taken in conjunction with the woman'srecord, makes it very essential to demand corroboration for everyassertion she might make.

One culminating fact remains. At the very hour that the bogus seance wasbeing held at which Mrs. White was showing how Katie King wasimpersonated, the Holmeses held a real seance, attended by twentypeople, at which the spirit appeared the same as ever. Colonel Olcottcollected several affidavits from those who were present on thisoccasion, and there can be no doubt about the fact. That of Dr. AdolphusFellger is short, and may be given almost in full. He says under oaththat "he has seen the spirit known as Katie King in all perhaps eightytimes, is perfectly familiar with her features, and cannot mistake as tothe identity of the Katie King who appeared upon the evening of December5, for while the said spirit scarcely ever appeared of exactly the sameheight or features two evenings in succession, her voice was always thesame, and the expression of her eyes, and the topics of her conversationenabled him to be still more certain of her being the same person." ThisFellger was a well-known and highly respected Philadelphia physician,whose simple word, says Olcott, would outweigh "a score of affidavits ofyour Eliza Whites."

It was also clearly shown that Katie King appeared constantly when Mrs.Holmes was at Blissfield and Mrs. White was in Philadelphia, and thatMrs. Holmes had written to Mrs. White describing their successfulappearances, which seems a final proof that the latter was not aconfederate.

By this time one must admit that Mrs. White's anonymous confession isshot through and through with so many holes that it is in a sinkingcondition. But there is one part which, it seems to the author, willstill float. That is the question of the photograph. It was asserted bythe Holmeses in an interview with General Lippitt-whose word is a solidpatch in this general quagmire-that Eliza White was hired by Dr. Childto pose in a photograph as Katie King. Child seems to have played adubious part all through this business, making affirmations at differenttimes which were quite contradictory, and having apparently somepecuniary interest in the matter. One is inclined, therefore, to lookseriously into this charge, and to believe that the Holmeses may havebeen party to the fraud. Granting that the Katie King image was real,they may well have doubted whether it could be photographed, since dimlight was necessary for its production. On the other hand, there wasclearly a source of revenue if photographs at half a dollar each couldbe sold to the numerous sitters. Colonel Olcott in his book produces aphotograph of Mrs. White alongside of the one which was supposed to beKatie King, and claims that there is no resemblance. It is clear,however, that the photographer would be asked to touch up the negativeso as to conceal the resemblance, otherwise the fraud would be obvious.The author has the impression, though not the certainty, that the twofaces are the same with just such changes as manipulation would produce.Therefore he thinks that the photograph may well be a fraud, but thatthis by no means corroborates the rest of Mrs. White's narrative, thoughit would shake our faith in the character of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes as wellas of Dr. Child. But the character of physical mediums has really onlyan indirect bearing upon the question of the reality of their psychicpowers, which should be tested upon their own merits whether theindividual be saint or sinner.

Colonel Olcott's wise conclusion was that, as the evidence was soconflicting, he would put it all to one side and test the mediums in hisown way with out reference to what was past. This he did in a veryconvincing way, and it is impossible for anyone who reads hisinvestigation (" People From the Other World," p. 460 and onwards) todeny that he took every possible precaution against fraud. The cabinetwas netted at the sides so that no one could enter as Mrs. White claimedto have done. Mrs. Holmes was herself put into a bag which tied roundthe neck and, as her husband was away, she was confined to her ownresources. Under these circumstances numerous heads were formed, some ofwhich were semi-materialized, presenting a somewhat terrible appearance.This may have been done as a test, or it may have been that the longcontention had impaired the powers of the medium. The faces were made toappear at a level which the medium could in no case have reached. DaleOwen was present at this demonstration and must have already begun toregret his premature declaration.

Further seances with similar results were then held in Olcott's ownrooms, so as to preclude the possibility of some ingenious mechanismunder the control of the medium. On one occasion, when the head of JohnKing, the presiding spirit, appeared in the air, Olcott, rememberingEliza White's assertion that these faces were merely ten cent masks,asked and obtained permission to pass his stick all round it, and sosatisfied himself that it was not supported. This experiment seems sofinal that the reader who desires even more evidence may be referred tothe book where he will find much. It was perfectly clear that whateverpart Eliza White may have played in the photograph, there was not ashadow of a doubt that Mrs. Holmes was a genuine and powerful medium formaterial phenomena. It should be added that the Katie King head wasrepeatedly seen by the investigators, though the whole form appears onlyonce to have been materialized. General Lippitt was present at theseexperiments and associated himself publicly (Banner of LIGHT, February6, 1875) with Olcott's conclusions.

The author has dwelt at some length upon this case, as it is verytypical of the way in which the public has been misled overSpiritualism. The papers are full of an "exposure." It is investigatedand is shown to be either quite false or very partially true. This isnot reported, and the public is left with the original impressionuncorrected. Even now, when one mentions Katie King, one hears somecritic say: "Oh, she was shown to be a fraud in Philadelphia," and by anatural confusion of thought this has even been brought as an argumentagainst Crookes's classical experiments. The affair-especially thetemporary weakening of Dale Owen-set the cause of Spiritualism back bymany years in America.

Mention has been made of John King, the presiding spirit at the Holmesseances. This strange entity would appear to have been the chiefcontroller of all physical phenomena in the early days of the movement,and is still occasionally to be seen and heard. His name is associatedwith the Koons's music saloon, with the Davenport brothers, withWilliams in London, with Mrs. Holmes, and many others. In person whenmaterialized he presents the appearance of a tall, swarthy man with anoble head and a full black beard. His voice is loud and deep, while hisrap has a decisive character of its own. He is master of all languages,having been tested in the most out-of-the-way tongues, such as Georgian,and never having been found wanting. This formidable person controls thebands of lesser primitive spirits, Red Indians and others, who assist atsuch phenomena. He claims that Katie King is his daughter, and that hewas himself when in life Henry Morgan, the buccaneer who was pardonedand knighted by Charles II and ended as Governor of Jamaica. If so, hehas been a most cruel ruffian and has much to expiate. The author isbound to state, however, that he has in his possession a contemporarypicture of Henry Morgan (it will be found in Howard Pyle's "Buccaneers,"p. 178), and that if reliable it has no resemblance to John King. Allthese questions of earthly identity are very obscure.*

* As the author has given a point against the identity of John King withMorgan, it is only fair that he should give one which supports it andcomes to him almost first-hand from a reliable source. The daughter of arecent Governor of Jamaica was at a seance in London lately, and wasconfronted with John King. The King spirit said to her, "You havebrought back from Jamaica something which was mine." She said, "What wasit?" He answered, "My will." It was a fact, quite unknown to thecompany, that her father had brought back this document.

Before closing the account of Olcott's experiences at this stage of hisevolution, some notice should be taken of the so-called Comptontransfiguration case, which shows what deep waters we are in when weattempt psychic research. These particular waters have not been plumbedyet, nor in any way charted. Nothing can be clearer than the facts, ormore satisfactory than the evidence. The medium Mrs. Compton was shut upin her small cabinet, and thread passed through the bored holes in herears and fastened to the back of her chair. Presently a slim whitefigure emerged from the cabinet. Olcott had a weighing platformprovided, and on it the spirit figure stood. Twice it was weighed, therecords being 77 lb. and 59 lb. Olcott then, as prearranged, went intothe cabinet leaving the figure outside. The medium was gone. The chairwas there, but there was no sign of the woman. Olcott then turned backand again weighed the apparition, who this time scaled 52 lb. The spiritthen returned into the cabinet from which other figures emerged.Finally, Olcott says:

I went inside with a lamp and found the medium just as I left her at thebeginning of the seance, with every thread unbroken and every sealundisturbed! She sat there, with her head leaning against the wall, herflesh as pale and as cold as marble, her eyeballs turned up beneath thelids, her forehead covered with a death-like damp, no breath coming fromher lungs and no pulse at her wrist. When every person had examined thethreads and seals, I cut the flimsy bonds with a pair of scissors, and,lifting the chair by its back and seat, carried the cataleptic woman outinto the open air of the chamber.

She lay thus inanimate for eighteen minutes; life gradually coming backto her body, until respiration and pulse and the temperature of her skinbecame normalÉ. I then put her upon the scaleÉ. She weighed one hundredand twenty-one pounds!

What are we to make of such a result as that? There were elevenwitnesses besides Olcott himself. The facts seem to be beyond dispute.But what are we to deduce from such facts? The author has seen aphotograph, taken in the presence of an amateur medium, where everydetail of the room has come out but the sitter has vanished. Is thedisappearance of the medium in some way analogous to that? If theectoplasmic figure weighed only 77 lb. and the medium 121 lb., then itis clear that only 44 lb. of her were left when the phantom was out. If44 lb. were not enough to continue the processes of life, may not herguardians have used their subtle occult chemistry in order todematerialize her and so save her from all danger until the return ofthe phantom would enable her to reassemble? It is a strange supposition,but it seems to meet the facts-which cannot be done by mere blank,unreasoning incredulity.

CHAPTER XIII

HENRY SLADE AND DR. MONCK

It is impossible to record the many mediums of various shades of power,and occasionally of honesty, who have demonstrated the effects whichoutside intelligences can produce when the material conditions are suchas to enable them to manifest upon this plane. There are a few, however,who have been so pre-eminent and so involved in public polemics that nohistory of the movement can disregard them, even if their careers havenot been in all ways above suspicion. We shall deal in this chapter withthe histories of Slade and Monck, both of whom played a prominent partin their days.

Henry Slade, the celebrated slate-writing medium, had been before thepublic in America for fifteen years before he arrived in London on July13, 1876. Colonel H. S. Olcott, a former president of the TheosophicalSociety, states that he and Madame Blavatsky were responsible forSlade's visit to England. It appears that the Grand Duke Constantine ofRussia, desiring to make a scientific investigation of Spiritualism, acommittee of professors of the Imperial University of St. Petersburgrequested Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky to select out of the bestAmerican mediums one whom they could recommend for tests.

They chose Slade, after submitting him to exacting tests for severalweeks before a committee of sceptics, who in their report certified that"messages were written inside double slates, sometimes tied and sealedtogether, while they either lay upon the table in full view of all, orwere laid upon the heads of members of the committee, or held flatagainst the under surface of the table-top, or held in a committeeman'shand without the medium touching it." It was en route to Russia thatSlade came to England.

A representative of the London World, who had a sitting with Slade soonafter his arrival, thus describes him: "A highly-wrought, nervoustemperament, a dreamy, mystical face, regular features, eyes luminouswith expression, a rather sad smile, and a certain melancholy grace ofmanner, were the impressions conveyed by the tall, lithe figureintroduced to me as Dr. Slade. He is the sort of man you would pick outof a roomful as an enthusiast." The Seybert Commission Report says, "heis probably six feet in height, with a figure of unusual symmetry," andthat "his face would attract notice anywhere for its uncommon beauty,"and sums him up as "a noteworthy man in every respect."

Directly after his arrival in London Slade began to give sittings at hislodgings in 8 Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square, and his success wasimmediate and pronounced. Not only was writing obtained of an evidentialnature, under test conditions, with the sitter's own slates, but thelevitation of objects and materialized hands were observed in strongsunlight.

The editor of THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, the soberest and most high-classof the Spiritualist periodicals of the time, wrote: "We have nohesitation in saying that Dr. Slade is the most remarkable medium ofmodern times."

Mr. J. Enmore Jones, a well-known psychic researcher of that day, whoafterwards edited THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, said that Slade was taking theplace vacated by D. D. Home. His account of his first sitting indicatesthe business-like method of procedure: "In Mr. Home's case, he refusedto take fees, and as a rule the sittings were in the evening in thequiet of domestic life; but in Dr. Slade's case it was any time duringthe day, in one of the rooms he occupies at a boarding-house. The fee oftwenty shillings is charged, and he prefers that only one person bepresent in the large room he uses. No time is lost; as soon as thevisitor sits down the incidents commence, are continued, and in, say,fifteen minutes are ended." Stainton Moses, who was afterwards the firstpresident of the London Spiritualist Alliance, conveys the same ideawith regard to Slade. He wrote: "In his presence phenomena occur with aregularity and precision, with an absence of regard for 'conditions,'and with a facility for observation which satisfy my desires entirely.It is impossible to conceive circumstances more favourable to minuteinvestigation than those under which I witnessed the phenomena whichoccur in his presence with such startling rapidityÉ. There was nohesitation, no tentative experiments. All was short, sharp, anddecisive. The invisible operators knew exactly what they were going todo, and did it with promptitude and precision."*

* THE SPIRITUALIST, Vol. IX, p. 2.

Slade's first seance in England was given on July 15, 1876, to Mr.Charles Blackburn, a prominent Spiritualist, and Mr. W. H. Harrison,editor of THE SPIRITUALIST. In strong sunlight the medium and the twositters occupied three sides of an ordinary table about four feetsquare. A vacant chair was placed at the fourth side. Slade put a tinypiece of pencil, about the size of a grain of wheat, upon a slate, andheld the slate by one corner with one hand under the table flat againstthe leaf. Writing was heard on the slate, and on examination a shortmessage was found to have been written. While this was taking place thefour hands of the sitters and Slade's disengaged hands were clasped inthe centre of the table. Mr. Blackburn's chair was moved four or fiveinches while he was sitting upon it, and no one but himself was touchingit. The unoccupied chair at the fourth side of the table once jumped inthe air, striking its seat against the under edge of the table. Twice alife-like hand passed in front of Mr. Blackburn while both Slade's handswere under observation. The medium held an accordion under the table,and while his other hand was in clear view on the table "Hone, SweetHome" was played. Mr. Blackburn then held the accordion in the same way,when the instrument was drawn out strongly and one note sounded. Whilethis occurred Slade's hands were on the table. Finally, the threepresent raised their hands a foot above the table, and it rose until ittouched their hands. At another sitting on the same day a chair roseabout four feet, when no one was touching it, and when Slade rested onehand on the top of Miss Blackburn's chair, she and the chair were raisedabout half a yard from the floor.

Mr. Stainton Moses thus describes an early sitting which he had withSlade:

A midday sun, hot enough to roast one, was pouring into the room; thetable was uncovered; the medium sat with the whole of his body in fullview; there was no human being present save myself and him. Whatconditions could be better? The raps were instantaneous and loud, as ifmade by the clenched fist of a powerful man. The slate-writing occurredunder any suggested condition.

It came on a slate held by Dr. Slade and myself; on one held by myselfalone in the corner of the table farthest from the medium; on a slatewhich I had myself brought with me, and which I held myself. The latterwriting occupied some time in production, and the grating noise of thepencil in forming each word was distinctly audible. A chair opposite tome was raised some eighteen inches from the floor; my slate was takenout of my hand, and produced at the opposite side of the table, whereneither Dr. Slade nor I could reach it; the accordion played all roundand about me, while the doctor held it by the lower part, and finally,on a touch from his hand upon the back of my chair, I was levitated,chair and all, some inches.

Mr. Stainton Moses was himself a powerful medium, and this factdoubtless aided the conditions. He adds:

I have seen all these phenomena and many others several times before,but I never saw them occur rapidly and consecutively in broad daylight.The whole seance did not extend over more than half an hour, and nocessation of the phenomena occurred from first to last.*

* THE SPIRITUALIST, Vol. IX, p. 2.

All went well for six weeks, and London was full of curiosity as to thepowers of Slade, when there came an awkward interruption.

Early in September, 1876, Professor Ray Lankester with Dr. Donkin hadtwo sittings with Slade, and on the second occasion, seizing the slate,he found writing on it when none was supposed to have taken place. Hewas entirely without experience in psychic research, or he would haveknown that it is impossible to say at what moment writing occurs in suchseances. Occasionally a whole sheet of writing seems to be precipitatedin an instant, while at other times the author has clearly heard thepencil scratching along from line to line. To Ray Lankester, however, itseemed a clear case of fraud, and he wrote a letter to THE TIMES*denouncing Slade, and also prosecuted him for obtaining money underfalse pretences. Replies to Lankester's letter and supporting Slade wereforthcoming from Dr, Alfred Russel Wallace, Professor Barrett, andothers. Dr. Wallace pointed out that Professor Lankester's account ofwhat happened was so completely unlike what occurred during his ownvisit to the medium, as well as the recorded experience of Serjeant Cox,Dr. Carter Blake, and many others, that he could only look upon it as astriking example of Dr. Carpenter's theory of preconceived ideas, Hesays: "Professor Lankester went with the firm conviction that all he wasgoing to see would be imposture, and he believes he saw impostureaccordingly." Professor Lankester showed his bias when, referring to thepaper read before the British Association on September 12 by ProfessorBarrett, in which he dealt with Spiritualistic phenomena, he said, inhis letter to THE TIMES: "The discussions of the British Associationhave been degraded by the introduction of Spiritualism."

* September 16, 1876.

Professor Barrett wrote that Slade had a ready reply, based on hisignorance of when the writing did actually occur. He describes a veryevidential sitting he had in which the slate rested on the table withhis elbow resting on it. One of Slade's hands was held by him, and thefingers of the medium's other hand rested lightly on the surface of theslate. In this way writing occurred on the under surface of the slate.Professor Barrett further speaks of an eminent scientific friend whoobtained writing on a clean slate when it was held entirely by him, bothof the medium's hands being on the table. Such instances must surelyseem absolutely conclusive to the unbiased reader, and it will be clearthat if the positive is firmly established, occasional allegations ofnegative have no bearing upon the general conclusion.

Slade's trial came on at Bow Street Police Court on October t, 1876,before Mr. Flowers, the magistrate. Mr. George Lewis prosecuted and Mr.Munton appeared for the defence. Evidence in favour of the genuinenessof Slade's mediumship was given by Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, SerjeantCox, Dr. George Wyld, and one other, only four witnesses being allowed.The magistrate described the testimony as "overwhelming" as to theevidence for the phenomena, but in giving judgment he excludedeverything but the evidence of Lankester and his friend Dr. Donkin,saying that he must base his decision on "inferences to be drawn fromthe known course of nature." A statement made by Mr. Maskelyne, thewell-known conjurer, that the table used by Slade was a trick-table wasdisproved by the evidence of the workman who made it. This table can nowbe seen at the offices of the London Spiritualist Alliance, and onemarvels at the audacity of a witness who could imperil another man'sliberty by so false a statement, which must have powerfully affected thecourse of the trial. Indeed, in the face of the evidence of RayLankester, Donkin, and Maskelyne, it is hard to see how Mr. Flowerscould fail to convict, for he would say with truth and reason, "What isbefore the Court is not what has happened upon other occasions-howeverconvincing these eminent witnesses may be-but what occurred upon thisparticular occasion, and here we have two witnesses on one side and onlythe prisoner on the other." The "trick-table" probably settled thematter.

Slade was sentenced, under the Vagrancy Act, to three months'imprisonment with hard labour. An appeal was lodged and he was releasedon bail. When the appeal came to be heard, the conviction was quashed ona technical point. It may be pointed out that though he escaped on atechnical point, namely, that the words "by palmistry or otherwise"which appeared in the statute had been omitted, it must not be assumedthat had the technical point failed he might not have escaped on themerits of his case. Slade, whose health had been seriously affected bythe strain of the trial, left England for the Continent a day or twolater. From the Hague, after a rest of a few months, Slade wrote toProfessor Lankester offering to return to London and to give himexhaustive private tests on condition that he could come withoutmolestation. He received no answer to his suggestion, which surely isnot that of a guilty man.

An illuminated testimonial to Slade from London Spiritualists in 1877sets out:

In view of the deplorable termination of Henry Slade's visit to thiscountry, we the undersigned desire to place on record our high opinionof his mediumship, and our reprobation of the treatment he hasundergone.

We regard Henry Slade as one of the most valuable Test Mediums nowliving. The phenomena which occur in his presence are evolved with arapidity and regularity rarely equalled.

He leaves us not only untarnished in reputation by the late proceedingsin our Law Courts, but with a mass of testimony in his favour whichcould probably have been elicited in no other way.

This is signed by Mr. Alexander Calder (President of the BritishNational Association of Spiritualists) and a number of representativeSpiritualists. Unhappily, however, it is the Noes, not the Ayes, whichhave the ear of the Press, and even now, fifty years later, it would behard to find a paper enlightened enough to do the man justice.

Spiritualists, however, showed great energy in supporting Slade. Beforethe trial a Defence Fund was raised, and Spiritualists in America drewup a memorial to the American Minister in London. Between the Bow Streetconviction and the hearing of the appeal, a memorial was sent to theHome Secretary protesting against the action of the Government inconducting the prosecution on appeal. Copies of this were sent to allthe members of the Legislature, to all the Middlesex magistrates, tovarious members of the Royal Society, and of other public bodies. MissKislingbury, the secretary to the National Association of Spiritualists,forwarded a copy to the Queen.

After giving successful seances at the Hague, Slade went to Berlin inNovember, 1877, where he created the keenest interest. He was said toknow no German, yet messages in German appeared on the slates, and werewritten in the characters of the fifteenth century. The BERLINERFREMDENBLATT of November 10, 1877, wrote: "Since the arrival of Mr.Slade at the Kronprinz Hotel the greater portion of the educated worldof Berlin has been suffering from an epidemic which we may term aSpiritualistic fever." Describing his experiences in Berlin, Slade saidthat he began by fully converting the landlord of the hotel, using thelatter's slates and tables in his own house. The landlord invited theChief of Police and many prominent citizens of Berlin to witness themanifestations, and they expressed themselves as satisfied. Sladewrites: "Samuel Bellachini, Court Conjurer to the Emperor of Germany,had a week's experience with me free of charge. I gave him from two tothree seances a day and one of them at his own house. After his full andcomplete investigation, he went to a public notary and made oath thatthe phenomena were genuine and not trickery."

Bellachini's declaration on oath, which has been published, bears outthis statement. He says that after the minutest investigation heconsiders any explanation by conjuring to be "absolutely impossible."The conduct of conjurers seems to have been usually determined by a sortof trade union jealousy, as if the results of the medium were some sortof breach of a monopoly, but this enlightened German, together withHoudin, Kellar, and a few more, have shown a more open mind.

A visit to Denmark followed, and in December began the historic seanceswith Professor Zollner, at Leipzig. A full account of these will befound in Zollner's "Transcendental Physics," which has been translatedby Mr. C. C. Massey. Zollner was Professor of Physics and Astronomy inthe University of Leipzig, and associated with him in the experimentswith Slade were other scientific men, including William Edward Weber,Professor of Physics; Professor Scheibner, a distinguishedmathematician; Gustave Theodore Fechner, Professor of Physics and aneminent natural philosopher, who were all, says Professor Zollner,"perfectly convinced of the reality of the observed facts, altogetherexcluding imposture or "prestidigitation." The phenomena in questionincluded, among other things, "the production of true knots in anendless string, the rending of Professor Zollner's bed-screen, thedisappearance of a small table and its subsequent descent from theceiling in FULL LIGHT, in a private house and under the observedconditions, of which the most noticeable is the apparent passivity ofDr. Slade during all these occurrences."

Certain critics have tried to indicate what they consider insufficientprecautions observed in these experiments. Dr. J. Maxwell, the acuteFrench critic, makes an excellent reply to such objections. He pointsout* that because skilled and conscientious psychic investigators haveomitted to indicate explicitly in their reports that every hypothesis offraud has been studied and dismissed, in the belief that "their implicitaffirmation of the reality of the fact appeared sufficient to them," andin order to prevent their reports from being too unwieldy, yet captiouscritics do not hesitate to condemn them and to suggest possibilities offraud which are quite inadmissible under the observed conditions.

* "Metapsychical Phenomena" (Translation 1905), p. 405.

Zollner gave a dignified reply to the supposition that he was tricked inthese cord-tying experiments: "If, nevertheless, the foundation of thisfact, deduced by me on the ground of an enlarged conception of space,should be denied, only one other kind of explanation would remain,arising from a moral code of consideration that at present, it is true,is quite customary. This explanation would consist in the presumptionthat I myself and the honourable men and citizens of Leipzig, in whosepresence several of these cords were sealed, were either commonimpostors, or were not in possession of our sound senses sufficient toperceive if Mr. Slade himself, before the cords were sealed, had tiedthem in knots. The discussion, however, of such a hypothesis would nolonger belong to the dominion of science, but would fall under thecategory of social decency."*

* Massey's Zollner, pp. 20-21.

As a sample of the reckless statements of opponents of Spiritualism, itmay be mentioned that Mr. Joseph McCabe, who is second only to theAmerican Houdini for wild inaccuracies, speaks of Zollner as "an elderlyand purblind professor," whereas he died in 1882, in his forty-eighthyear, and his experiments with Slade were carried out in 1877-78, whenthis distinguished scientist was in the vigour of his intellectual life.

So far have opponents pushed their enmity that it has even been statedthat Zollner was deranged, and that his death which occurred some yearslater was accompanied with cerebral weakness. An inquiry from Dr. Funkset this matter at rest, though it is unfortunately easy to get libelsof this sort into circulation and very difficult to get thecontradictions. Here is the document:

"Spiritualism. A Popular History from 1847," p. 161.

"The Widow's Mite," p. 276.

Your letter addressed to the Rector of the University, October 20, 1903,received. The Rector of this University was installed here after thedeath of Zollner, and had no personal acquaintance with him; butinformation received from Zollner's colleagues states that during hisentire studies at the University here, until his death, he was of soundmind; moreover, in the best of health. The cause of his death was ahemorrhage of the brain on the morning of April 25th, 1882, while he wasat breakfast with his mother, and from which he died shortly after. Itis true that Professor Zollner was an ardent believer in Spiritualism,and as such was in close relations with Slade.

(Dr.) KARL BUCHER, Professor of Statistics and National Economy at theUniversity.

The tremendous power which occasionally manifests itself when theconditions are favourable was shown once in the presence of Zollner,Weber, and Scheibner, all three professors of the University. There wasa strong wooden screen on one side of the room:

A violent crack was suddenly heard as in the discharging of a largebattery of Leyden jars. On turning with some alarm in the direction ofthe sound, the before-mentioned screen fell apart in two pieces. Thestrong wooden screws, half an inch thick, were torn from above andbelow, without any visible contact of Slade with the screen. The partsbroken were at least five feet removed from Slade, who had his back tothe screen; but even if he had intended to tear it down by a cleverlydevised sideward motion, it would have been necessary to fasten it onthe opposite side. As it was, the screen stood quite unattached, and thegrain of the wood being parallel to the axis of the cylindrical woodenfastenings, the wrenching asunder could only be accomplished by a forceacting longitudinally to the part in question. We were all astonished atthis unexpected and violent manifestation of mechanical force, and askedSlade what it all meant; but he only shrugged his shoulders, saying thatsuch phenomena occasionally, though somewhat rarely, occurred in hispresence. As he spoke, he placed, while still standing, a piece ofslate-pencil on the polished surface of the table, laid over it a slate,purchased and just cleaned by myself, and pressed the five spreadfingers of his right hand on the upper surface of the slate, while hisleft hand rested on the centre of the table. Writing began on the innersurface of the slate, and when Slade turned it up, the followingsentence was written in English: "It was not our intention to do harm.Forgive what has happened." We were the more surprised at the productionof the writing under these circumstances, for we particularly observedthat both Slade's hands remained quite motionless while the writing wasgoing on.*

* "Transcendental Physics," p. 34, 35.

In his desperate attempt to explain this incident, Mr. McCabe says thatno doubt the screen was broken before and fastened together afterwardswith thread. There is truly no limit to the credulity of theincredulous.

After a very successful series of seances in St. Petersburg, Sladereturned to London for a few days in 1878, and then proceeded toAustralia. An interesting account of his work there is to be found inMr. James Curtis's book, "Rustlings in the Golden City." Then hereturned to America. In 1885 he appeared before the Seybert Commissionin Philadelphia, and in 1887 again visited England under the name of"Dr. Wilson," though it was well known who he was. Presumably his aliaswas due to a fear that the old proceedings would be renewed.

At most of his seances, Slade exhibited clairvoyant powers, andmaterialized hands were a familiar occurrence. In Australia, wherepsychic conditions are good, he had materializations. Mr. Curtis saysthat the medium objected to sitting for this form of manifestation,because it left him weak for a time, and because he preferred to giveseances in the light. He consented, however, to try with Mr. Curtis, whothus describes what took place at Ballarat, in Victoria:

Our first test of spirit appearance in the form took place at Lester'sHotel. I placed the table about four or five feet from the west wall ofthe room. Mr. Slade sat at the end of the table furthest from the wall,whilst I took my position on the north side. The gaslight was toneddown, not so much but that any object in the room could be clearly seen.Our hands were placed over one another in a single pile. We sat verystill about ten minutes, when I observed something like a little mistycloud between myself and the wall. When my attention was first drawntowards this phenomenon, it was about the size and colour of agentleman's high-crowned, whitish-grey felt hat. This cloudlikeappearance rapidly grew and became transformed, when we saw before us awoman-a lady. The being thus fashioned, and all but perfected, rose fromthe floor on to the top of the table, where I could most distinctlyobserve the configuration. The arms and hands were elegantly shaped; theforehead, mouth, nose, cheeks, and beautiful brown hair showedharmoniously, each part in concord with the whole. Only the eyes wereveiled because they could not be completely materialized. The feet wereencased in white satin shoes. The dress glowed in light, and was themost beautiful I ever beheld, the colour being bright, sheeny silverygrey, or greyish shining white. The whole figure was graceful, and thedrapery perfect. The materialized spirit glided and walked about,causing the table to shake, vibrate, jerk and tilt considerably. I couldhear, too, the rustling of the dress as the celestial visitanttransiently wended from one position or place to another. The spiritform, within two feet of our unmoved hands, still piled up together in aheap, then dissolved, and gradually faded from our vision.

The conditions at this beautiful seance-with the medium's hands heldthroughout, and with enough light for visibility-seem satisfactory,provided we grant the honesty of the witness. As the preface containsthe supporting testimony of a responsible Australian Governmentofficial, who also speaks of Mr. Curtis's initial extremely scepticalstate of mind, we may well do so. At the same seance a quarter of anhour later the figure again appeared:

The apparition then floated in the air and alighted on the table,rapidly glided about, and thrice bent her beautiful figure with gracefulbows, each bending deliberate and low, the head coming within six inchesof my face. The dress rustled (as silk rustles) with every movement. Theface was partially veiled as before. The visibility then becameinvisible, slowly disappearing like the former materialization.

Other similar seances are described.

In view of the many elaborate and stringent tests through which hepassed successfully, the story of Slade's "exposure" in America in 1886is not convincing, but we refer to it for historical reasons, and toshow that such incidents are not excluded from our review of thesubject. The BOSTON HERALD, February 2, 1886, heads its account, "Thecelebrated Dr. Slade comes to grief in Weston, West Virginia, writesupon slates which lie upon his knees under the table, and moves tablesand chairs with his toes." Observers in an adjoining room, lookingthrough the crevice under the door saw these feats of agility beingperformed by the medium, though those present in the room with him wereunaware of them. There seems, however, to have been in this as in othercases, occurrences which bore the appearance of fraud, and Spiritualistswere among those who denounced him. At a subsequent public performancefor "Direct Spirit Writing" in the Justice Hall, Weston, Mr. E. S.Barrett, described as a "Spiritualist," came forward and explained howSlade's imposture had been detected. Slade, who was asked to speak,appeared dumbfounded, and could only say, according to the report, thatif his accusers had been deceived he had been equally so, for if thedeceit had been done by him, it had been without his consciousness.

Mr. J. Simmons, Slade's business manager, made a frank statement whichseems to point to the operation of ectoplasmic limbs, as years later wasproved to be the case with the famous Italian medium, Eusapia Palladino.He says: "I do not doubt that these gentlemen saw what they assert theydid; but I am convinced at the same time that Slade is as innocent ofwhat he is accused of as you (the editor) yourself would have been undersimilar circumstances. But I know that my explanation would have noweight in a court of justice. I myself saw a hand, which I could havesworn to be that of Slade, if it had been possible for his hand to be inthat position. While one of his hands lay upon the table and the otherheld the slate under the corner of the table, a third hand appeared witha clothes-brush (which a moment previously had brushed against me fromthe knee upwards) in the middle of the opposite edge of the table, whichwas forty-two inches long." Slade and his manager were arrested andreleased on bail, but no further proceedings seem to have been takenagainst them. Truesdell, also, in his book, "Spiritualism, BottomFacts," states that he saw Slade effecting the movement of objects withhis foot, and he asks his readers to believe that the medium made to hima full confession of how all his manifestations were produced. If Sladeever really did this, it may probably be accounted for by a burst ofill-timed levity on his part in seeking to fool a certain type ofinvestigator by giving him exactly what he was seeking for. To suchinstances we may apply the judgment of Professor Zollner on theLankester incident: "The physical facts observed by us in so astonishinga variety in his presence negatived on every reasonable ground thesupposition that he in one solitary case had taken refuge in wilfulimposture." He adds, what was certainly the case in that particularinstance, that Slade was the victim of his accuser's and his judge'slimited knowledge.

At the same time there is ample evidence that Slade degenerated ingeneral character towards the latter part of his life. Promiscuoussittings with a mercenary object, the subsequent exhaustions, and thealcoholic stimulus which affords a temporary relief, all acting upon amost sensitive organization, had a deleterious effect. This weakening ofcharacter, with a corresponding loss of health, may have led to adiminution of his psychic powers, and increased the temptation to resortto trickery. Making every allowance for the difficulty of distinguishingwhat is fraud and what is of crude psychic origin, an unpleasantimpression is left upon the mind by the evidence given in the SeybertCommission and by the fact that Spiritualists upon the spot should havecondemned his action. Human frailty, however, is one thing and psychicpower is another. Those who seek evidence for the latter will find amplein those years when the man and his powers were both at their zenith.

Slade died in 1905 at a Michigan sanatorium to which he had been sent bythe American Spiritualists, and the announcement was followed by thecustomary sort of comment in the London Press. THE STAR, which has anevil tradition in psychic matters, printed a sensational article headed"Spook Swindles," giving a garbled account of the Lankester prosecutionat Bow Street. Referring to this, LIGHT says*:

* 1886, p. 433.

Of course, this whole thing is a hash of ignorance, unfairness andprejudice. We do not care to discuss it or to controvert it. It would beuseless to do so for the sake of the unfair, the ignorant, and theprejudiced, and it is not necessary for those who know. Suffice it tosay that the STAR only supplies one more instance of the difficulty ofgetting all the facts before the public; but the prejudiced newspapershave themselves to blame for their ignorance or inaccuracy.

It is the story of the Davenport Brothers and Maskelyne over again.

If Slade's career is difficult to appraise, and if one is forced toadmit that while there was an overpowering preponderance of psychicresults, there was also a residuum which left the unpleasant impressionthat the medium might supplement truth with fraud, the same admissionmust be made in the case of the medium Monck, who played a considerablepart for some years in the 'seventies. Of all mediums none is moredifficult to appraise, for on the one hand many of his results arebeyond all dispute, while in a few there seems to be an absolutecertainty of dishonesty. In his case, as in Slade's, there were physicalcauses which would account for a degeneration of the moral and psychicpowers.

Monck was a Nonconformist clergyman, a favourite pupil of the famousSpurgeon. According to his own account, he had been subject fromchildhood to psychic influences, which increased with his growth. In1873 he announced his adhesion to Spiritualism and gave an address inthe Cavendish Rooms. Shortly afterwards he began to give demonstrations,which appear to have been unpaid and were given in light. In 1875 hemade a tour through England and Scotland, his performances exciting muchattention and debate, and in 1876 he visited Ireland, where his powerswere directed towards healing. Hence he was usually known as "Dr."Monck, a fact which naturally aroused some protest from the medicalprofession.

Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, a most competent and honest observer, hasgiven an account of a materialization seance with Monck which appears tobe as critic-proof as such a thing could be. No subsequent suspicion orconviction can ever eliminate such an incontrovertible instance ofpsychic power. It is to be noted how far the effects were in agreementwith the subsequent demonstrations of ectoplasmic outflow in the case ofEva and other modern mediums. Dr. Wallace's companions upon thisoccasion were Mr. Stainton Moses and Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood. Dr. Wallacewrites:

It was a bright summer afternoon, and everything happened in the fulllight of day. After a little conversation, Monck, who was dressed in theusual clerical black, appeared to go into a trance; then stood up a fewfeet in front of us, and after a little while pointed to his side,saying, "Look."

We saw there a faint white patch on his coat on the left side. This grewbrighter, then seemed to flicker and extend both upwards and downwards,till very gradually it formed a cloudy pillar extending from hisshoulder to his feet and close to his body.

Dr. Wallace goes on to describe how the cloudy figure finally assumedthe form of a thickly draped woman, who, after a brief space, appearedto be absorbed into the body of the medium.

He adds: "The whole process of the formation of a shrouded figure wasseen in full daylight."

Mr. Wedgwood assured him that he had lead even more remarkablemanifestations of this kind with Monck, when the medium was in a deeptrance, and in full view.

It is quite impossible after such evidence to doubt the powers of themedium at that time. Archdeacon Colley, who had seen similarexhibitions, offered a prize of a thousand pounds to Mr. J. N.Maskelyne, the famous conjurer, if he could duplicate the performance.This challenge was accepted by Mr. Maskelyne, but the evidence showedthat the imitation bore no relation to the original. He attempted togain a decision in the courts, but the verdict was against him.

It is interesting to compare the account given by Russel Wallace and theexperience later of a well-known American, Judge Dailey. This gentlemanwrote*:

* BANNER OF LIGHT, Dec. 15, 1881.

Glancing at Dr. Monck's side we observed what looked like an opalescentmass of compact steam emerging from just below his heart on the leftside. It increased in volume, rising up and extending downward, theupper portions taking the form of a child's head, the face beingdistinguished as that of a little child I had lost some twenty yearspreviously. It only remained in this form for a moment, and thensuddenly disappeared, seeming to be instantly absorbed into the Doctor'sside. This remarkable phenomenon was repeated four or five times, ineach instance the materialization being more distinct than the precedingone. This was witnessed by all in the room, with gas burningsufficiently bright for every object in the room to be plainly visible.

It was a phenomenon seldom to be seen, and has enabled all who saw it tovouch for, not only the remarkable power possessed by Dr. Monck as amaterializing medium, but as to the wonderful manner in which a spiritdraws out.

Surely it is vain after such testimony to deny that Monck had, indeed,great psychic powers.

Apart from materializations Dr. Monck was a remarkable slate-writingmedium. Dr. Russel Wallace in a letter to the SPECTATOR * says that withMonck at a private house in Richmond he cleaned two slates, and afterplacing a fragment of pencil between them, tied them together tightlywith a strong cord, lengthways and crosswise, in a manner that preventedany movement.

* October 7, 1877.

I then laid them flat on the table without losing sight of them for aninstant. Dr. Monck placed the fingers of both hands on them, while I anda lady sitting opposite placed our hands on the corners of the slates.From this position our hands were never moved till I untied the slatesto ascertain the result.

Monck asked Wallace to name a word to be written on the slate. He chosethe word "God" and in answer to a request decided that it should belength ways on the slate. The sound of writing was heard, and when themedium's hands were withdrawn, Dr. Wallace opened the slates and foundon the lower one the word he had asked for and written in the mannerrequested.

Dr. Wallace says:

The essential features of this experiment are that I myself cleaned andtied up the slates; that I kept my hands on them all the time; that theynever went out of my sight for a moment; and that I named the word to bewritten, and the manner of writing it after they were thus secured andheld by me.

Mr. Edward T. Bennett, assistant secretary to the Society for PsychicalResearch, adds to this account: "I was present on this occasion, andcertify that Mr. Wallace's account of what happened is correct."

Another good test is described by Mr. W. P. Adshead, of Belper, awell-known investigator, who says of a seance held in Derby on September18, 1876:

There were eight persons present, three ladies and five gentlemen. Alady whom Dr. Monck had never before seen had a slate passed to her by asitter, which she examined and found clean. The slate pencil which wason the table a few minutes before we sat down could not be found. Aninvestigator suggested that it would be a good test if a lead pencilwere used.

Accordingly a lead pencil was put on the slate, and the lady held bothunder the table. The sound of writing was instantly heard, and in a fewseconds a communication had been written filling one side of the slate.The writing was done in lead, and was very small and neat, and alludedto a strictly private matter.

Here were three tests at once. (1) Writing was obtained without themedium (or any other person but the lady), touching the slate from firstto last. (2) It was written with lead pencil at the spontaneoussuggestion of another stranger. (3) It gave an important testcommunication regarding a matter that was strictly private. Dr. Monckdid not so much as touch the slate from first to last.

Mr. Adshead also speaks of physical phenomena occurring freely with thismedium when his hands were closely confined in an apparatus called the"stocks," which did not permit movement of even an inch in anydirection.

In the year 1876 the Slade trial was going on in London, as alreadydescribed, and exposures were in the air. In considering the followingrather puzzling and certainly suspicious case, one has to remember thatwhen a man who is a public performer, a conjurer or a mesmerist, canpose as having exposed a medium, he wins a valuable public advertisementand attracts to himself all that very numerous section of the communitywho desire to see such an exposure. It is only fair to bear this in mindin endeavouring to hold the scales fair where there is a conflict ofevidence.

In this case the conjurer and mesmerist was one Lodge, and the occasionwas a seance held at Huddersfield on November 3, 1876. Mr. Lodgesuddenly demanded that the medium be searched. Monck, whether dreadingassault or to save himself exposure, ran upstairs and locked himself inhis room. He then let himself down from his window and made for thepolice office, where he lodged a complaint as to his treatment. The doorof his bedroom had been forced and his effects searched, with the resultthat a pair of stuffed gloves was found. Monck asserted that thesegloves had been made for a lecture in which he had exposed thedifference between conjuring and mediumship. Still, as a Spiritualistpaper remarked at the tune:

The phenomena of his mediumship do not rest on his probity at all. If hewere the greatest rogue and the most accomplished conjurer rolled intoone, it would not account for the manifestations which have beenreported of him.

Monck was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and is alleged tohave made a confession to Mr. Lodge.

After his release from prison Monck held a number of test sittings withStainton Moses, at which remarkable phenomena occurred.

LIGHT comments:

Those whose names we have mentioned as testifying to the genuineness ofDr. Monck's mediumship are well-known to the older Spiritualists as keenand scrupulously cautious experimenters, and Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood'sname carried much weight, as he was known as a man of science and wasbrother-in-law of Charles Darwin.

There is an element of doubt about the Huddersfield case, as the accuserwas by no means an impartial person, but Sir William Barrett's testimonymakes it clear that Monck did sometimes descend to deliberate andcold-blooded trickery. Sir William writes:

I caught the "Dr." in a gross bit of fraud, a piece of white muslin on awire frame with a black thread attached, being used by the medium tosimulate a partially materialized spirit.*

* S.P.R. PROCEEDINGS, Vol. IV., p. 38 (footnote).

Such an exposure, coming from so sure a source, arouses a feeling ofdisgust which urges one to throw the whole evidence concerning the maninto the wastepaper basket. One must, however, be patient and reasonablein such matters. Monck's earlier seances, as has been clearly shown,were in good light, and any such clumsy mechanism was out of thequestion. We must not argue that because a man once forges, therefore hehas never signed an honest cheque in his life. But we must clearly admitthat Monck was capable of fraud, that he would take the easier way whenthings were difficult, and that each of his manifestations should becarefully checked.

CHAPTER XIV

COLLECTIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF SPIRITUALISM

Several committees have at different times sat upon the subject ofSpiritualism. Of these the two most important are that of theDialectical Society in 1869-70, and the Seybert Commission in 1884, thefirst British and the second American. To these may be added that of theFrench society, Institut General Psychologique in 1905-8. In spite ofthe intervals between these various investigations, it will beconvenient to treat them in a single chapter as certain remarks incommon apply to each of them.

There are obvious difficulties in the way of collectiveinvestigations-difficulties which are so grave that they are almostinsurmountable. When a Crookes or a Lombroso explores the subject heeither sits alone with the medium, or he has with him others whoseknowledge of psychic conditions and laws may be helpful in the matter.This is not usually so with these committees. They fail to understandthat they are themselves part of the experiment, and that it is possiblefor them to create such intolerable vibrations, and to surroundthemselves with so negative an atmosphere, that these outside forces,which are governed by very definite laws, are unable to penetrate it. Itis not in vain that the three words "with one accord" are interpolatedinto the account of the apostolic sitting in the upper room. If a smallpiece of metal may upset a whole magnetic installation, so a strongadverse psychic current may ruin a psychic circle. It is for thisreason, and not on account of any superior credulity, that practisingSpiritualists continually get such results as are never attained by mereresearchers. This also may be the reason why the one committee uponwhich Spiritualists were fairly well represented was the one whichgained the most positive results. This was the committee which waschosen by the Dialectical Society of London, a committee which began itsexplorations early in 1869 and presented its report in 1871. If commonsense and the ordinary laws of evidence had been followed in thereception of this report, the progress of psychic truth would have beenaccelerated by fifty years.

Thirty-four gentlemen of standing were appointed upon this committee,the terms of reference being "to investigate the phenomena alleged to bespiritual manifestations." The majority of the members were certainly inthe mood to unmask an imposture, but they encountered a body of evidencewhich could not be disregarded, and they ended by asserting that "thesubject is worthy of more serious attention and careful investigationthan it has hitherto received." This conclusion so amazed the societywhich they represented that they could not get it to publish thefindings, so the committee in a spirited way published them at their owncost, thus giving permanent record to a most interesting investigation.

The members of the committee were drawn from many varied professions andincluded a doctor of divinity, two physicians, two surgeons, two civilengineers, two fellows of scientific societies, two barristers, andothers of repute. Charles Bradlaugh the Rationalist was a member.Professor Huxley and G. H. Lewes, the consort of George Eliot, wereinvited to co-operate, but both refused, Huxley stating in his replythat "supposing the phenomena to be genuine, they do not interest me"-adictum which showed that this great and clear-headed man had hislimitations.

The six sub-committees sat forty tunes under test conditions, oftenwithout the aid of a professional medium, and with a full sense ofresponsibility they agreed that the following points appeared to havebeen established

"1. That sounds of a very varied character, apparently proceeding fromarticles of furniture, the floor and walls of the room-the vibrationsaccompanying which sounds are often distinctly perceptible to thetouch-occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechanicalcontrivance.

"2. That movements of heavy bodies take place without mechanicalcontrivance of any kind or adequate exertion of muscular force by thepersons present, and frequently without contact or connexion with anyperson.

"3. That these sounds and movements often occur at the times and in themanner asked for by persons present, and, by means of a simple code ofsignals, answer questions and spell out coherent communications.

"4. That the answers and communications thus obtained are, for the mostpart, of a commonplace character; but facts are sometimes correctlygiven which are only known to one of the persons present.

"5. That the circumstances under which the phenomena occur are variable,the most prominent fact being that the presence of certain persons seemsnecessary to their occurrence, and that of others generally adverse; butthis difference does not appear to depend upon any belief or disbeliefconcerning the phenomena.

"6. That, nevertheless, the occurrence of the phenomena is not ensuredby the presence or absence of such persons respectively."

The report briefly summarizes as follows the oral and written evidencereceived, which not only testifies to phenomena of the same nature asthose witnessed by the sub-committees, but to others of a more variedand extraordinary character:

"1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies-in someinstances men-rise slowly in the air and remain there for some timewithout visible or tangible support.

"2. Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures, notappertaining to any human being, but lifelike in appearance andmobility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped, and whichthey are therefore convinced were not the result of imposture orillusion.

"3. Five witnesses state that they have been touched by some invisibleagency on various parts of the body, and often where requested, when thehands of all present were visible.

"4. Thirteen witnesses declare that they have heard musical pieces wellplayed upon instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency.

"5. Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied tothe hands or heads of several persons without producing pain orscorching, and three witnesses state that they have had the sameexperiment made upon themselves with the like immunity.

"6. Eight witnesses state that they have received precise informationthrough rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which wasunknown at the time to themselves or to any persons present, and whichon subsequent inquiry was found to be correct.

"7. One witness declares that he has received a precise and detailedstatement which, nevertheless, proved to be entirely erroneous.

"8. Three witnesses state that they have been present when drawings,both in pencil and colours, were produced in so short a time, and undersuch conditions as to render human agency impossible.

"9. Six witnesses declare that they have received information of futureevents, and that in some cases the hour and minute of their occurrencehave been accurately foretold, days and even weeks before."

In addition to the above, evidence was given of trance-speaking, ofhealing, of automatic writing, of the introduction of flowers and fruitsinto closed rooms, of voices in the air, of visions in crystals andglasses, and of the elongation of the human body.

The report closes with the following observations:

In presenting their report, your Committee, taking into considerationthe high character and great intelligence of many of the witnesses tothe more extraordinary facts, the extent to which their testimony issupported by the reports of the sub-committees, and the absence of anyproof of imposture or delusion as regards a large portion of thephenomena; and further, having regard to the exceptional character ofthe phenomena, the large number of persons in every grade of society andover the whole civilized world who are more or less influenced by abelief in their supernatural origin, and to the fact that nophilosophical explanation of them has yet been arrived at, deem itincumbent upon them to state their conviction that the subject is worthyof more serious attention and careful investigation than it has hithertoreceived.

The committee was successful in procuring the evidence of believers inthe phenomena, but almost wholly failed, as stated in its report, toobtain evidence from those who attributed them to fraud or delusion.

In the records of the evidence of over fifty witnesses, there isvoluminous testimony to the existence of the facts from men and women ofgood standing. One witness* considered that the most remarkablephenomenon brought to light by the labours of the committee was theextraordinary number of eminent men who were shown to be firm believersin the Spiritual hypothesis. And another declared that whateveragencies might be employed in these manifestations, they were not to beexplained by referring them to imposture on the one side orhallucination on the other.

* Grattan Geary. E. L. Blanchard.

An interesting sidelight on the growth of the movement is obtained fromMrs. Emma Hardinge's statement that at that time (1869) she knew onlytwo professional mediums in London, though she was acquainted withseveral non-professional ones. As she herself was a medium she wasprobably correct in what she said. Mr. Cromwell Varley averred thatthere were probably not more than a hundred known mediums in the wholekingdom, and he added that very few of those were well developed. Wehave here conclusive testimony to the great work accomplished in Englandby D. D. Home, for the bulk of the converts were due to his mediumship.Another medium who played an important part was Mrs. Marshall. Manywitnesses spoke of evidential sittings they had attended at her house.Mr. William Howitt, the well-known author, was of opinion thatSpiritualism had then received the assent of about twenty millions ofpeople in all countries after personal examination.

What may be called the evidence for the opposition was not at allformidable. Lord Lytton said that in his experience the phenomena weretraceable to material influences of whose nature we were ignorant, Dr.Carpenter brought out his pet hobby of "unconscious cerebration." Dr.Kidd thought that the majority were evidently subjective phenomena, andthree witnesses, while convinced of the genuineness of the occurrences,ascribed them to Satanic agency. These objections were well answered byMr. Thomas Shorter, author of "Confessions of a Truth Seeker," andsecretary of the Working Men's College, in an admirable review of thereport in the SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE.*

* 1872, pp. 3-15.

It is worthy of note that on the publication of this important andwell-considered report it was ridiculed by a large part of the LondonPress. An honourable exception was the SPECTATOR.

THE TIMES reviewer considered it "nothing more than a farrago ofimpotent conclusions, garnished by a mass of the most monstrous rubbishit has ever been our misfortune to sit in judgment upon."

The MORNING POST said: "The report which has been published is entirelyworthless."

The SATURDAY REVIEW hoped that report would involuntarily lead "todiscrediting a little further one of the most unequivocally degradingsuperstitions that have ever found currency among reasonable beings."

The STANDARD made a sound criticism that deserves to be remembered.Objecting to the remark of those who do not believe in Spiritualism, yetsay that there may be "something in it," the newspaper sagely observes:"If there is anything whatever in it beyond imposture and imbecility,there is the whole of another world in it."

The DAILY NEWS regarded the report as "an important contribution to theliterature of a subject which, some day or other, by the very number ofits followers, will demand more extended investigation."

The SPECTATOR, after describing the book as an extremely curious one,added: "Few, however, could read the mass of evidence collected in thisvolume, showing the firm faith in the reality of the alleged spiritualphenomena possessed by a number of individuals of honourable and uprightcharacter, without also agreeing with Mr. Jeffrey's opinion, that theremarkable phenomena witnessed, some of which had not been traced toimposture or delusion, and the gathered testimony of respectablewitnesses, 'justify the recommendation of the subject to furthercautious investigation.'"

These are but brief extracts from longer notices in a few of the Londonnewspapers-there were many others-and, bad as they are, they none theless indicate a change of attitude on the part of the Press, which hadbeen in the habit of ignoring the subject altogether.

It must be remembered that the report concerned itself only with thephenomenal aspect of Spiritualism, and this, in the opinion of leadingSpiritualists, is decidedly the less important side. Only in the reportof one sub-committee is it recorded that the general gist of themessages was that physical death was a trivial matter in retrospect, butthat for the spirit it was a rebirth into new experiences of existence,that spirit life was in every respect human; that friendly intercoursewas as common and pleasurable as in life; that although spirits tookgreat interest in worldly affairs, they had no wish to return to theirformer state of existence; that communication with earth friends waspleasurable and desired by spirits, being intended as a proof to theformer of the continuance of life in spite of bodily dissolution, andthat spirits claimed no certain prophetic power. These were the mainheads of the information received.

It will be generally recognized in the future that in their day andgeneration, the Dialectical Society's Committee did excellent work. Thegreat majority of the members were opposed to the psychic claims, but inthe face of evidence, with a few exceptions, such as Dr. Edmunds, theyyielded to the testimony of their own senses. There were a few examplesof intolerance such as Huxley's unhappy dictum, and Charles Bradlaugh'sdeclaration that he would not even examine certain things because theywere in the region of the impossible, but on the whole the team work ofthe sub-committees was excellent.

There appears in the report of the Dialectical Society's Committee along article by Dr. Edmunds, an opponent to Spiritualism, and to thefindings of his colleagues. It is worth reading as typical of a certainclass of mind. The worthy doctor, while imagining himself to beimpartial, is really so absolutely prejudiced that the conceivablepossibility of the phenomena being supernormal never is allowed to enterinto his mind. When he sees one with his own eyes his only question is,"How was the trick done?" If he cannot answer the question he does notconsider this to be in favour of some other explanation, but simplyrecords that he cannot discover the trick. Thus his evidence, which isperfectly honest as to fact, records that a number of fresh flowers andfruits, still wet, fell upon the table-a phenomenon of apports which wasshown many times by Mrs. Guppy. The doctor's only comment is that theymust have been taken from the sideboard, although one would haveimagined that a large basket of fruit upon the sideboard would haveattracted attention, and he does not venture to say that he saw such anobject. Again he was shut up with the Davenports in their cabinet andadmits that he could make nothing of it, but, of course, it must be aconjuring trick. Then when he finds that mediums who perceive that hismental attitude is hopeless refuse to sit with him again, he sets thatdown also as an evidence of their guilt. There is a certain type ofscientific mind which is quite astute within its own subject and,outside it, is the most foolish and illogical thing upon earth.

It was the misfortune of the Seybert Commission, which we will nowdiscuss, that it was entirely composed of such people, with theexception of one Spiritualist, a Mr. Hazard, who was co-opted by themand who had little chance of influencing their general atmosphere ofobstruction. The circumstances in which the Commission was appointedwere these. A certain Henry Seybert, a citizen of Philadelphia, had leftthe sum of sixty thousand dollars for the purpose of founding a Chair ofPhilosophy at the University of Pennsylvania with the condition that thesaid University should appoint a commission to "make a thorough andimpartial investigation of all systems of morals, religion, orphilosophy which assume to represent the truth, and particularly ofmodern Spiritualism." The personnel of the body chosen is immaterialsave that all were connected with the University, with Dr. Pepper, theProvost of the University as nominal chairman, Dr. Furness as actingchairman, and Professor Fullerton as secretary. In spite of the factthat the duty of the Commission was to "make a thorough and impartialinvestigation" of modern Spiritualism, the preliminary report coollystates The Commission is composed of men whose days are already filledwith duties which cannot be laid aside, and who are able, therefore, todevote but a small portion of their time to these investigations.

The fact that the members were satisfied to start with this handicapshows how little they understood the nature of the work before them.Their failure, in the circumstances, was inevitable. The proceedingsbegan in March, 1884, and a "preliminary" report, so called, was issuedin 1887. This report was, as it proved, the final one, for though it wasreissued in 1920 there was no addition save a colourless preface ofthree paragraphs by a descendant of the former chairman. The gist ofthis report is that fraud on the one side and credulity on the othermake up the whole of Spiritualism, and that there was really nothingserious on which the committee could report. The whole long document iswell worth reading by any student of psychic matters. The impressionleft upon the mind is that the various members of the Commission were intheir own limited way honestly endeavouring to get at the facts, butthat their minds, like that of Dr. Edmunds, were so formed that when, inspite of their repellent and impossible attitude, some psychic happeningdid manage to break through their barriers, they would not for aninstant consider the possibility that it was genuine, but simply passedit by as if it did not exist. Thus with Mrs. Fox-Kane they did getwell-marked raps, and are content with the thousand-times disprovedsupposition that they came from inside her own body, and they passwithout comment the fact that they received from her long messages,written swiftly in script, which could only be read when held to thelooking-glass, as it was from right to left. This swiftly-written scriptcontained an abstruse Latin sentence which would appear to be much abovethe capacity of the medium. All of this was unexplained and ignored.

Again, in reporting upon Mrs. Lord the Commission got the Direct Voice,and also phosphorescent lights after the medium had been searched. Weare informed that the medium kept up an "almost continuous clapping ofhands," and yet people at a distance from her seem to have been touched.The spirit in which the inquiry is approached may be judged from theremark of the acting chairman to W. M. Keeler, who was said to be aspirit photographer, that he "would not be satisfied with less than acherub on my head, one on each shoulder, and a full-blown angel on mybreast." A Spiritualist would be surprised indeed if an inquirer in sofrivolous a mood should be favoured with results. All through runs thefallacy that the medium is producing something as a conjurer does. Neverfor a moment do they seem to realize that the favour and assent ofinvisible operators may be essential-operators who may stoop to thehumble-minded and shrink away from, or even make game of, theself-sufficient scoffer.

While there were some results which may have been genuine, but which arebrushed aside by the report, there were some episodes which must bepainful to the Spiritualist, but which none the less must be faced. TheCommission exposed obvious fraud in the case of the slate medium, Mrs.Patterson, and it is impossible to deny that the case against Slade is asubstantial one. The latter days of this medium were admittedly under acloud, and the powers which had once been so conspicuous may have beenreplaced by trickery. Dr. Furness goes the length of asserting that suchtrickery was actually admitted, but the anecdote as given in the reportrather suggests chaff upon the part of the medium. That Dr. Slade shouldjovially beckon the doctor in from his open window, and should at oncein reply to a facetious remark admit that his own whole life had been aswindle, is more than one can easily believe.

There are some aspects in which the Commission-or some members ofit-seem to have been disingenuous. Thus, they state at the beginningthat they will rest their report upon their own labours and disregardthe mass of material already available. In spite of this, they introducea long and adverse report from their secretary upon the Zollner evidencein favour of Slade. This report is quite incorrect in itself, as isshown in the account of Zollner given in the chapter treating of Slade'sexperiences in Leipzig. It carefully suppresses the fact that the chiefconjurer in Germany, after a considerable investigation, gave acertificate that Slade's phenomena were not trickery. On the other hand,when the testimony of a conjurer is against a spiritual explanation, asin the comments of Kellar, it is given in full, with no knowledge,apparently, that in the case of another medium, Eglinton, this sameKellar had declared the results to be beyond his art.

At the opening of the report the Commission says: "We deemed ourselvesfortunate at the outset in having as a counsellor the late Mr. Thomas R.Hazard, a personal friend of Mr. Seybert, and widely known throughoutthe land as an uncompromising Spiritualist." Mr. Hazard evidently knewthe importance of ensuring the right conditions and the right type ofsitters for such an experimental investigation. Describing an interviewhe had with Mr. Seybert a few days before the latter's death, when heagreed to act as his representative, Mr. Hazard says he did so only"with the full and distinct understanding that I should be permitted toprescribe the methods to be pursued in the investigation, designate themediums to be consulted, and reject the attendance of any person orpersons whose presence I deemed might conflict with the harmony and goodorder of the spirit circles." But this representative of Mr. Seybertseems to have been quietly ignored by the University. After theCommission had been sitting for some time, Mr. Hazard was dissatisfiedwith some of its members and their methods. We find him writing asfollows in the Philadelphia NORTH AMERICAN,[May 18, 1885.] presumablyafter vainly approaching the University authorities:

Without aiming to detract in the slightest degree from the unblemishedmoral character that attaches to each and every individual of theFaculty, including the Commission, in public esteem, nor to the highsocial and literary standing they occupy in society, I must say thatthrough some strange infatuation, obliquity of judgment, or perversityof intellect, the Trustees of the University have placed on theCommission for the investigation of modern Spiritualism, a majority ofits members whose education, habit of thought, and prejudices sosingularly disqualify them from making a thorough and impartialinvestigation of the subject which the Trustees of the University areobligated both by contract and in honour to do, that had the object inview been to belittle and bring into discredit, hatred and generalcontempt the cause that I know the late Henry Seybert held nearest hisheart and loved more than all else in the world beside, the Trusteescould scarcely have selected more suitable instruments for the objectintended from all the denizens of Philadelphia than are the gentlemenwho constitute a majority of the Seybert Commission. And this I repeat,not from any causes that affect their moral, social or literary standingin society, but simply because of their prejudices against the cause ofSpiritualism.

He further advised the Trustees to remove from the Commission Messrs.Fullerton, Thompson, and Koenig.

Mr. Hazard quoted Professor Fullerton as saying in a lecture before theHarvard University Club on March 3, 1885:

It is possible that the way mediums tell a person's history is by theprocess of thought-transference, for every person who is thus told ofthese things goes to a medium thinking of the same points about whichthe medium talks.

When a man has a cold he hears a buzzing noise in his ears, and aninsane person constantly hears sounds which never occur. Perhaps, then,disease of mind or ear, or some strong emotion, may be the cause of alarge number of spiritual phenomena.

These words were spoken after the professor had served on the Commissionfor more than twelve months.

Mr. Hazard also quotes Dr. George A. Koenig's views, published in thePHILADELPHIA PRESS, about a year after his appointment on theCommission:

I must frankly admit that I am prepared to deny the truth ofSpiritualism as it is now popularly understood. It is my belief that allof the so-called mediums are humbugs without exception. I have neverseen Slade perform any of his tricks, but, from the publisheddescriptions, I have set him down as an impostor, the cleverest one ofthe lot. I do not think the Commission view with much favour theexamination of so-called spirit mediums. The wisest men are apt to bedeceived. One man in an hour can invent more tricks than a wise man cansolve in a year.

Mr. Hazard learned from what he considered to be a reliable source, thatProfessor Robert E. Thompson was responsible for this view whichappeared in Penn's Monthly of February, 1880.

Even if Spiritualism be all that its champions claim for it, it has noimportance for anyone who holds a Christian faith. The consideration anddiscussion of the subject is tampering with notions and condescending todiscussions with which no Christian believer has any business.

We have in these expressions of opinion a means of judging how unsuitedthese members of the Commission were for making what Mr. Seybert askedfor-"a thorough and impartial" investigation of the subject.

An American Spiritualist periodical, the BANNER OF LIGHT, commenting onMr. Hazard's communication, wrote:

So far as we have information, no notice was taken of Mr. Hazard'sappeal-certainly no action was had, for the members above quoted remainon the Commission to this day, and their names are appended to thispreliminary report. Professor Fullerton, in fact, was and now is thesecretary; one hundred and twenty of the one hundred and fifty pages ofthe volume before us are written by him, and exhibit that excessive lackof spiritual perception and knowledge of occult, and we might also saynatural laws, which led him to inform an audience of Harvard studentsthat "when a man has a cold he hears a buzzing noise in his ears"; that"an insane person constantly hears sounds which never occur," andsuggest to them that spiritual phenomena may proceed from such causes.

The BANNER OF LIGHT continues:

We consider that the Seybert Commission's failure to follow the counselof Mr. Hazard, as it was plainly their duty to do, is the key to theentire failure of all their sub sequent efforts. The paucity ofphenomenal results, in any degree approaching what might be looked for,even by a sceptic, which this book records, is certainly remarkable. Itis a report of what was not done, rather than that of what was. In thememoranda of proceedings at each session, as given by ProfessorFullerton, there is plainly seen a studied effort to give prominence toeverything that a superficial mind might deem proof of trickery on thepart of the medium, and to conceal all that might be evidence of thetruth of his claimsÉ. It is mentioned that when certain members of theCommission were present all phenomena ceased. This substantiates thecorrectness of Mr. Hazard's position; and there is no one who has had anexperience with mediums, sufficient to render his opinion of any value,who will not endorse it. The spirits knew what elements they had to dealwith; they endeavoured to eliminate those that rendered theirexperiments nugatory; they failed to do this through the ignorance,wilfulness or prejudice of the Commission, and the experiments failed;so the Commission, very "wise in its own conceit," decided that all wasfraud.

LIGHT,* in its notice of the report, says what needs saying as much nowas in 1887:

*1887, p. 391.

We notice with some pleasure, though without any marked expectation ofwhat may result from the pursuance of bad methods of investigation, thatthe Commission pro poses to continue its quest "with minds as sincerelyand honestly open as heretofore to conviction." Since this is so, wepresume to offer a few words of advice founded upon large experience.The investigation of these obscure phenomena is beset with difficulty,and any instructions that can be given are derived from a knowledgewhich is to a great extent empirical. But we know that prolonged andpatient experiment with a properly constituted circle is a SINE QUA NON[absolutely essential]. We know that all does not depend on the medium,but that a circle must be formed and varied from time to timeexperimentally, until the proper constituent elements are secured. Whatthese elements may be we cannot tell the Seybert Commission. They mustdiscover that for themselves. Let them make a study in the literature ofSpiritualism of the varied characteristics of mediumship before theyproceed to personal experiment. And when they have done this, andperhaps when they have realized how easy it is so to conduct anexamination of this nature as to arrive at negative results, they willbe in a better position to devote intelligent and patient care to astudy which can be profitably conducted in no other way.

There is no doubt that the report of the Seybert Commission set back forthe time the cause of psychic truth. Yet the real harm fell upon thelearned institution which these gentlemen represented. In these dayswhen ectoplasm, the physical basis of psychic phenomena, has beenestablished beyond a shadow of doubt to all who examine the evidence, itis too late to pretend that there is nothing to be examined. There isnow hardly a capital which has not its Psychic Research Society-a finalcomment upon the inference of the Commission that there was no field forresearch. If the Seybert Commission had had the effect of PennsylvaniaUniversity heading this movement, and living up to the great traditionof Professor Hare, how proud would her final position have been! AsNewton associated Cambridge with the law of gravitation, so Pennsylvaniamight have been linked to a far more important advance of humanknowledge. It was left to several European centres of learning to sharethe honour among them.

The remaining collective investigation is of less importance, since itdeals only with a particular medium. This was conducted by the InstitutGeneral Psychologique in Paris. It consisted of three series of sittingswith the famous Eusapia Palladino in the years 1905, 1906, and 1907, thetotal number of seances being forty-three. No complete list of thesitters is available, nor was there any proper collective report, theonly record being a very imperfect and inconclusive one from thesecretary, M. Courtier. The investigators included some verydistinguished persons, including Charles Richet, Monsieur and MadameCurie, Messrs. Bergson, Perrin, Professor d'Arsonal of the College deFrance, who was president of the society, Count de Gramont, ProfessorCharpentier, and Principal Debierne of the Sorbonne. The actual resultcould not have been disastrous to the medium, since Professor Richet hasrecorded his endorsement of the reality of her psychic powers, but thestrange superficial tricks of Eusapia are recorded in the subsequentaccount of her career, and we can well imagine the disconcerting effectwhich they would have upon those to whom such things were new.

There is included in the report a sort of conversation among the sittersin which they talk the matter over, most of them being in a verynebulous and non-committal frame of mind. It cannot be claimed that anynew light was shed upon the medium, or any new argument provided eitherfor the sceptic or for the believer. Dr. Geley, however, who hasprobably gone as deeply as anyone else into psychic science, claims that"les experiences"-he does not say the report-constitute a valuablecontribution to the subject.* He bases this upon the fact that theresults chronicled do often strikingly confirm those obtained in his ownInstitut Metapsychique working with Kluski, Guzik, and other mediums.The differences, he says, are in details and never in essentials. Thecontrol of the hands was the same in either case, both the hands beingalways held. This was easier in the case of the later mediums,especially with Kluski in trance, while Eusapia was usually a veryrestless individual. There seems to be a halfway condition which wascharacteristic of Eusapia, and which has been observed by the author inthe case of Frau Silbert, Evan Powell, and other mediums, where theperson seems normal, and yet is peculiarly susceptible to suggestion orother mental impressions. A suspicion of fraud may very easily bearoused in this condition, for the general desire on the part of theaudience that something should occur reacts with great force upon theunreasoning mind of the medium. An amateur who had some psychic powerhas assured the author that it needs considerable inhibition to keepsuch impulses in check and to await the real power from outside. In thisreport we read: "The two hands, feet, and knees of Eusapia beingcontrolled, the table is raised suddenly, all four feet leaving theground. Eusapia closes her fists and holds them towards the table, whichis then completely raised from the floor five times in succession, fiveraps being also given. It is again completely raised whilst each ofEusapia's hands is on the head of a sitter. It is raised to a height ofone foot from the floor and suspended in the air for seven seconds,while Eusapia kept her hand on the table, and a lighted candle wasplaced under the table," and so on, with even more conclusive tests withtable and other phenomena.

* "L'Ectoplasmie et la Clairvoyance," 1924, p. 402.

The timidity of the report was satirized by the great FrenchSpiritualist, Gabriel Delanne. He says:

The reporter keeps saying "it seems" and "it appears," like a man who isnot sure of what he is relating. Those who held forty-three seances,with good eyes and apparatus for verification, ought to have a settledopinion-or, at least, to be able to say, if they regard a certainphenomenon as fraudulent, that at a given seance they had seen themedium in the act of tricking. But there is nothing of the sort. Thereader is left in uncertainty-a vague suspicion hovers over everything,though not supported on any serious grounds.

Commenting on this, LIGHT says: *

* 1909, p. 356.

Delanne shows by extracts from the Report itself that some of theexperiments succeeded even when the fullest test precautions were taken,such as using lamp-black to discover whether Eusapia really touched theobjects moved. Yet the Report deliberately discounts these direct andpositive observations by instancing cases occurring AT OTHER TIMES ANDPLACES in which Eusapia was SAID or BELIEVED to have unduly influencedthe phenomena.

The Courtier Report will prove more and more plainly to be what we havealready called it, a "monument of ineptitude," and the reality ofEusapia's phenomena cannot be seriously called in question by themeaningless phrases with which it is liberally garnished.

What may be called a collective investigation of a medium, Mrs. Crandon,the wife of a doctor in Boston, was undertaken in the years 1923 to 1925by a committee chosen by the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN and afterwards by asmall committee of Harvard men with Dr. Shapley, the astronomer, attheir head. The controversy over these inquiries is still raging, andthe matter has been referred to in the chapter which deals with greatmodern mediums. It may briefly be stated that of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICANinquirers the secretary, Mr. Malcolm Bird, and Dr. Hereward Carringtonannounced their complete conversion.

The others gave no clear decision which involved the humiliatingadmission that after numerous sittings under their own conditions and inthe presence of constant phenomena, they could not tell whether theywere being cheated or not. The defect of the committee was that noexperienced Spiritualist who was familiar with psychic conditions wasupon it. Dr. Prince was very deaf, while Dr. McDougall was in a positionwhere his whole academic career would obviously be endangered by theacceptance of an unpopular explanation. The same remark applies to Dr.Shapley's committee, which was all composed of budding scientists.Without imputing conscious mental dishonesty, there is a subconsciousdrag to wards the course of safety. Reading the report of thesegentlemen with their signed acquiescence at each sitting with theresult, and their final verdict of fraud, one cannot discover any normalway in which they have reached their conclusions. On the other hand, theendorsements of the mediumship by folk who had no personal reasons forextreme caution were frequent and enthusiastic. Dr. Mark Richardson ofBoston reported that he had sat more than 300 times, and had no doubt atall about the results.

The author has seen numerous photographs of the ectoplasmic flow from"Margery," and has no hesitation, on comparing it with similarphotographs taken in Europe, in saying that it is unquestionablygenuine, and that the future will justify the medium as against herunreasonable critics.

APPENDIX

NOTES TO CHAPTER IV

EVIDENCE OF THE HAUNTING OF THE HYDESVILLE HOUSE BEFORE THE FOX FAMILYOCCUPIED IT

MRS. ANN PULVER certifies:

I was acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Bell (who occupied the house in 1844).I used to call on them frequently. My warping bars were in their chamber,and I used to go there to do my work. One morning when I went there Mrs.Bell told me that she felt very bad; that she had not slept much, if any,the night before. When I asked her what the matter was, she said shedidn't know but what it was the fidgets; but she thought she heardsomebody walking about from one room to another, and that she had Mr.Bell get up and fasten down all the windows. She said she felt more safeafter that. I asked her what she thought it was. She said it might berats. I heard her speak about hearing noises after that, which she couldnot account for.

Miss Lucretia Pulver gave testimony:

I lived in this house all one winter, in the family of Mr. Bell. I workedfor them part of the time, and part of the time I boarded and went toschool. I lived there about three months. During the latter part of thetime that I was there I heard this knocking frequently in the bedroom,under the foot of the bed. I heard it a number of nights, as I slept inthe bedroom all the time that I staid there. One night I thought I hearda man walking in the buttery. This buttery is near the bedroom, with astairway between. Miss Aurelia Losey staid with me on that night; shealso heard the noise, and we were both much frightened, and got up andfastened down the windows and fastened the door. It sounded as if aperson walked through the buttery, down cellar, and part way across thecellar-bottom, and there the noise would cease. There was no one else inthe house at this time, except my little brother, who was asleep in thesame room with us. This was about twelve o'clock, I should think. We didnot go to bed until after eleven, and had not been asleep when we heardthe noise. Mr. and Mrs. Bell had gone to Loch Berlin, to be gone untilthe next day.

Thus it is proved that strange sounds were heard in the house in 1844.Another family named Weekman lived there in 1846-7, and they had asimilar experience.

STATEMENT OF MRS. HANNAH WEEKMAN

I have heard about the mysterious noises that have been heard in thehouse now occupied by Mr. Fox. We used to live in the same house; welived there about a year and a half and moved from there to the house wenow occupy. About a year ago, while we were living there, we heardsomeone, as we supposed, rapping on the outside door. I had just got intobed, but my husband had not. He went and opened it, and said that therewas no one there. He came back, and was about getting into bed when weheard the rapping on the door again. He then went to the door and openedit, and said that he could see no one, although he stepped out a littleway. He then came back and got into bed. He was quite angry; he thought'twas some of the neighbouring boys trying to disturb us, and said that"They might knock away, but they would not fool him," or something ofthat kind. The knocking was heard again, and after a while he got up andwent to the door and went out. I told him not to go outdoors, for perhapssomebody wanted to get him out and hurt him. He came back, and said hecould see nothing. We heard a good deal of noise during the night; wecould hardly tell where it was: it sounded sometimes as if someone waswalking in the cellar. But the house was old, and we thought it might bethe rattling of loose boards, or something of that kind.

A few nights afterwards, one of our little girls, who slept in thebedroom where the noises are now heard, woke us all up by screaming veryloud. My husband and I, and our hired girl, got up immediately to seewhat was the matter. She sat up in bed, crying and screaming, and it wassome time before we could find out what the matter was. She said thatsomething had been moving about, over her head and face-that it was cold,and she did not know what it was. She said that she felt it all over her,but she was most alarmed at feeling it on her face. She was very muchfrightened. This was between twelve and one o'clock at night. She got upand got into bed with us, and it was a long time before she could go tosleep. It was several days before we could get her to sleep in that roomagain. She was eight years old at that time.

Nothing else happened to me during the time that we lived there; but myhusband told me that one night he heard someone call him by name,somewhere in the house-he did not know where-but could never find outwhere or what it was that night. I was not at home that night. I wassitting up with a sick person. We did not think the house was haunted atthat time.

HANNAH WEEKMANAPRIL 11, 1848.

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL WEEKMAN

I am the husband of Hannah Weekman. We used to live in the house nowoccupied by Mr. Fox, in which they say strange noises are heard. We livedthere about a year and a half. One evening, about bedtime, I heard therapping. I supposed it was someone knocking at the door who wanted tocome in. I did not bid him "Come in," as I usually do, but went to thedoor. I did not find anyone there, but went back, and just as I wasgetting into bed I heard the rapping again and opened the door quick, butcould see no one there. I stepped out a step or two, but could see no oneabout there. I then went back and got into bed. I thought someone wasmaking game of me. After a few minutes I heard the knocking again, andafter waiting a few minutes and still hearing it, I got up and went tothe door. This time I went clear out and looked around the house, butcould find no one. I then stepped back and shut the door, and held on tothe latch, thinking that if there was anyone there I would catch them atit. In a minute or two I heard the rapping again. My hand was on thedoor, and the knocking appeared to be on the door. I could feel it jarwith the raps. I instantly opened the door and sprang out, but there wasno one in sight. I then went round the house again, but could find noone, as before. My wife told me I had better not go out of doors, as itmight be someone that wanted to hurt me. I did not know what to think ofit, it seemed so strange and unaccountable.

He here relates the case of the little girl being frightened, as givenabove.

One night after this, about midnight, I was awake, and heard my namecalled. It sounded as if it was on the south side of the room.

I sat up in bed and listened, but did not hear it again. I did not getout of bed, but waited to see if it would be repeated. My wife was not athome that night. I told her of it afterwards, and she said she guessed Ihad been dreaming. My wife used to be frightened quite often by hearingstrange noises in and about the house.

I have heard so much from men in whom I place confidence about thesenoises that are now heard, that, taken in connexion with what I heard, Icannot account for it, unless it is a supernatural appearance. I amwilling to make affidavit to the above facts if necessary.

(Signed) MICHAEL WEEKMAN.APRIL 11, 1848.

EXTRACT FROM HORACE, GREELEY'S ARTICLE IN THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE GIVING HISOPINION OF THE FOX SISTERS AND THEIR MEDIUMSHIP*

* Capron, "Modern Spiritualism," pp. 179-181.

THE MYSTERIOUS RAPPINGS

Mrs. Fox and her three daughters left our city yesterday on their returnto Rochester, after a stay here of some weeks, during which they havesubjected the mysterious influence, by which they seem to be accompanied,to every reasonable test, and to the keen and critical scrutiny ofhundreds who have chosen to visit them, or whom they have been invited tovisit. The rooms which they occupied at the hotel have been repeatedlysearched and scrutinized; they have been taken without an hour's noticeinto houses they had never before entered; they have been allunconsciously placed on a glass surface concealed under the carpet inorder to interrupt electrical vibrations; they have been disrobed by acommittee of ladies appointed without notice, and insisting that neitherof them should leave the room until the investigation has been made,etc., etc., yet we believe no one, to this moment, pretends that he hasdetected either of them in producing or causing the "rappings," nor do wethink any of their contemners has invented a plausible theory to accountfor the production of these sounds, nor the singular intelligence which(certainly at times) has seemed to be manifest through them.

Some ten or twelve days since they gave up their rooms at the hotel anddevoted the remainder of their sojourn here to visiting several families,to which they had been invited by persons interested in the subject, andsubjecting the singular influence to a closer, calmer examination thancould be given to it at a hotel, and before casual companies ofstrangers, drawn together by vague curiosity more than rational interest,or predetermined and invincible hostility. Our own dwelling was amongthose they thus visited; not only submitting to, but courting, thefullest and keenest inquiry with regard to the alleged "manifestations"from the spirit-world, by which they were attended.

We devoted what time we could spare from our duties out of three days tothis subject, and it would be the basest cowardice not to say that we areconvinced beyond a doubt of their perfect integrity and good faith in thepremises. Whatever may be the origin or cause of the "rappings," theladies in whose presence they occur do not make them. We tested thisthoroughly and to our entire satisfaction. Their conduct and bearing isas unlike that of deceivers as possible, and we think no one acquaintedwith them could believe them at all capable of engaging in so daring,impious, and shameful a juggle as this would be if they caused thesounds. And it is not possible that such a juggle should have been solong perpetrated in public. A juggler performs one feat quickly andhurries on to another; he does not devote weeks after weeks to the samething over and over, deliberately, in full view of hundreds who sitbeside or confronting him in broad daylight, not to enjoy but to detecthis trick. A deceiver naturally avoids conversation on the subject of hisknavery, but these ladies converse freely and fully with regard to theorigin of these "rappings" in their dwellings years ago, the varioussensations they caused, the neighbourhood excitement created, theprogress of the developments--what they have seen, heard and experiencedfrom first to last. If all were false, they could not fail to haveinvolved themselves ere this in a labyrinth of blasting contradictions,as each separately gives accounts of the most astonishing developments atthis or that time. Persons foolish enough so to commit themselves withoutreserve or caution could not have deferred a thorough self-exposure for asingle week.

Of course, a variety of opinions of so strange a matter would naturallybe formed by the various persons who have visited them, and we presumethat those who have merely run into their room for an hour or so, andlistened, among a huddle of strangers, to a medley of questions-not alladmitting of very profitable answers-put to certain invisibleintelligences, and answered by "rappings," or singular noises on thefloor, table, etc., as the alphabet was called over, or otherwise, wouldnaturally go away, perhaps puzzled, probably disgusted, rarely convinced.It is hardly possible that a matter, ostensibly so grave, could bepresented under circumstances less favourable to conviction. But of thosewho have enjoyed proper opportunities for a full investigation, webelieve that fully three-fourths are convinced, as we are, that thesesingular sounds and seeming manifestations are not produced by Mrs. Foxand her daughters, nor by any human being connected with them.

How they are caused, and whence they proceed, are questions which open amuch wider field of inquiry, with whose way-marks we do not profess to befamiliar. He must be well acquainted with the arcana of the universe, whoshall presume dogmatically to decide that these manifestations arenatural or supernatural. The ladies say that they are informed that thisis but the beginning of a new era, or economy, in which spirits clothedin the flesh are to be more closely palpably connected with those whohave put on immortality; that manifestations have already appeared inmany other families and destined to be diffused and rendered clearer,until all who will may communicate freely with their friends who have"shuffled off this mortal coil." Of all this we know nothing, and shallguess nothing. But if we were simply to print (which we shall not) thequestions asked and answers we received, during a two-hours'uninterrupted conference with the "rappers," we should at once be accusedof having done so expressly to sustain the theory which regards thesemanifestations as the utterances of departed spirits. H. G.

NOTE TO CHAPTER VI

PEN-PICTURE OF LAKE HARRIS BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT

There was a remarkable alternation of vivacity and deliberation about themovements of Mr. Masollam. His voice seemed pitched in two differentkeys, the effect of which was, when he changed them, to make one seem adistant echo of the other-a species of ventriloquistic phenomenon whichwas calculated to impart a sudden and not altogether pleasant shock tothe nerves of the listeners. When he talked with what I may term his"near" voice, he was generally rapid and vivacious; when he exchanged itfor his "far off" one, he was solemn and impressive. His hair, which hadonce been raven black, was now streaked with grey, but it was still thickand fell in a massive wave over his ears, and nearly to his shoulders,giving him something of a leonine aspect. His brow was overhanging andbushy, and his eyes were like revolving lights in two dark caverns, sofitfully did they seem to emit flashes and then lose all expression. Likehis voice, they too had a near and a far-off expression, which could beadjusted to the required focus like a telescope, growing smaller andsmaller as though in an effort to project the sight beyond the limits ofnatural vision. At such times they would be so entirely devoid of allappreciation of outward objects as to produce almost the impression ofblindness, when suddenly the focus would change, the pupils expand, andrays flash from them like lightning from a thundercloud, giving anunexpected and extraordinary brilliancy to a face which seemed promptlyto respond to the summons. The general cast of countenance, the upperpart of which, were it not for the depth of the eye-sockets, would havebeen strikingly handsome, was decidedly Semitic; and in repose thegeneral effect was almost statuesque in its calm fixedness. The mouth waspartially concealed by a heavy moustache and long iron-grey beard; butthe transition from repose to animation revealed an extraordinaryflexibility in those muscles which had a moment before appeared so rigid,and the whole character of the countenance was altered as suddenly as theexpression of the eye. It would perhaps be prying too much into thesecrets of Nature, or, at all events, into the secrets of Mr. Masollam'snature, to inquire whether this lightening and darkening of thecountenance was voluntary or not. In a lesser degree it is a commonphenomenon with us all: the effect of one class of emotions is, vulgarlyspeaking, to make a man look black, and of another to make him lookbright. The peculiarity of Mr. Masollam was that he could look so muchblacker and brighter than most people, and made the change of expressionwith such extraordinary rapidity and intensity that it seemed a sort offacial legerdemain, and suggested the suspicion that it might be anacquired faculty. There was, moreover, another change which he apparentlyhad the power of working on his countenance, which affects other peopleinvoluntarily, and which generally, especially in the case of the fairsex, does so very much against their will. Mr. Masollam had the facultyof looking very much older one hour than he did the next. "There weremoments when a careful study of his wrinkles and of his dull,faded-looking eyes would lead you to put him down at eighty if he was aday; and there were others when his flashing glance, expanding nostril,broad, smooth brow and mobile mouth would make a rejuvenating combinationthat would for a moment convince you that you had been at leastfive-and-twenty years out in your first estimate. These rapid contrastswere calculated to arrest the attention of the most casual observer, andto produce a sensation which was not altogether pleasant when first onemade his acquaintance. It was not exactly mistrust-for both manners wereperfectly frank and natural-so much as perplexity. He seemed to be twoopposite characters rolled into one, and to be presenting undesigningly acurious moral and physiological problem for solution, which had adisagreeable sort of attractiveness about it, for you almost immediatelyfelt it to be insoluble, and yet it would not let you rest. He might bethe best or the worst of men."

NOTES TO CHAPTER VII

ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR AND MRS. DE MORGAN

PROFESSOR DE MORGAN says:

I gave an account of all this to a friend who was then alive, a man ofologies and ometers both, who was not at all disposed to think itanything but a clever imposture. "But," said he, "what you tell me isvery singular: I shall go myself to Mrs. Hayden; I shall go alone and notgive my name. I don't think I shall hear anything from anybody, but if Ido I shall find out the trick. Depend upon it,

I shall find it out." He went accordingly, and came to me to reportprogress. He told me that he had gone a step beyond me, for he hadinsisted on taking his alphabet behind a large folding screen and askinghis questions by the alphabet and a pencil, as well as receiving theanswers. No persons except himself and Mrs. Hayden were in the room. The"spirit" who came to him was one whose unfortunate death was fullydetailed in the usual way. My friend told me that he was "awestruck," andhad nearly forgotten all his precautions.

The things which I have narrated were the beginning of a long series ofexperiences, many as remarkable as what I have given; many of a minorcharacter, separately worth little, but jointly of weight when consideredin connexion with the more decisive proofs of reality. Many of aconfirmatory tendency as mere facts, but of a character not sustentive ofthe gravity and dignity of the spiritual world. The celebrated apparitionof Giles Scroggins is a serious personage compared to some which havefallen in my way, and a logical one, too. If these things be spirits,they show that pretenders, coxcombs and liars are to be found on theother side of the grave as well as on this; and what for no? as Meg Dodssaid.

The whole question may receive such persevering attention as shall wormout the real truth; or it may die away, obtaining only casual notice,until a new outburst of phenomena recalls its history of this clay. Butthis subsidence does not seem to begin. It is now twelve or thirteenyears since the matter began to be everywhere talked about, during whichtime there have been many announcements of the total extinction of the"spirit-mania." But in several cases, as in Tom Moore's fable, theextinguishers have caught fire. Were it the absurdity it is often said tobe, it would do much good by calling attention to the "manifestations" ofanother absurdity, the philosophy of possibilities and impossibilities,the philosophy of the fourth court. Extremes meet, but the "meeting" isoften for the purpose of mutual exposure, like that of silly gentlemen inthe day of pop-and-paragraph duels. This on the supposition thatSpiritualism is all either imposture or delusion; it cannot be morecertainly one or the other than is the philosophy opposed to it. I haveno acquaintance either with P or Q. But I feel sure that the decidedconviction of all who can see both sides of the shield must be, that itis more likely that P has seen a ghost than that Q knows he cannot haveseen one. I know that Q says he knows it.

In this connexion the following from the Publishers' Circular on theappearance of Mrs. De Morgan's book shows a contemporary estimate ofProfessor De Morgan's critical faculty:

Mere LITTERATEURS and writers of fiction may be pardoned for a littletendency to the visionary and unreal, but the fact that the well-knownauthor of the standard works on Formal Logic, the Differential Calculus,and the Theory of Probabilities, should figure with his lady in thecharacters of believers in spirit-rapping and table-turning, willprobably take most people by surprise. There is perhaps no contributor toour reviews who is more at home in demolishing a fallacy, or ingood-humouredly disposing of an ignorant pretender in science than Mr. DeMorgan. His clear, logical, witty and whimsical style is readily tracedby literary readers in many a striking article in our critical journals.He is probably the last man whom the sceptical in such mysteries wouldexpect to find on the side of Mr. Home and Mrs. Newton Crosland. Yet wemust record the fact that Mr. De Morgan declares himself " perfectlyconvinced that he has both seen and heard, in a manner which should makeunbelief impossible, things called spiritual which cannot be taken by arational being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coincidence, ormistake."

Let us add to the foregoing Mrs. De Morgan's testimony:

It is now ten years since I began attentively to observe the phenomena of"Spiritualism." My first experience occurred in the presence of Mrs.Hayden from New York. I never heard a word which could shake my strongconviction of Mrs. Hayden's honesty; indeed, the result of our firstinterview, when my name was quite unknown to her, was sufficient to provethat I was not on that occasion the victim of her imposture, or my owncredulity.

After describing the visit to Mrs. Hayden, to whom none of the names ofthose present was mentioned, she says:

We sat for at least a quarter of an hour and were beginning to apprehenda failure, when a very small throbbing or patting sound was heard,apparently in the centre of the table. Great was our pleasure when Mrs.Hayden, who had before seemed rather anxious, said, "They are coming."Who were coming? Neither she nor we could tell. As the sounds gatheredstrength, which they seemed to do with our necessary conviction of theirgenuineness, whatever might be their origin, Mrs. Hayden said, "There isa spirit who wishes to speak with someone here, but as I do not know thenames of the gentlemen and ladies, I must point to each in turn, and,when I come to the right one, beg that the spirit will rap." This wasagreed to by our invisible companion, who rapped in assent. Mrs. Haydenthen pointed to each of the party in turn. To my surprise, and evenannoyance (for I did not wish this, and many of my friends did), nosounds were heard until she indicated myself, the last in the circle. Iwas seated at her right hand; she had gone round from the left. I wasthen directed to point to the letters of a large type alphabet, and I mayadd that, having no wish to obtain the name of any dear friend orrelation, I certainly did not rest, as it has been surmised is oftendone, on any letter. However, to my astonishment, the not common name ofa dear relation who had left this world seventeen years before, and whosesurname was that of my father's, not my husband's, family was spelt. Thenthis sentence, "I am happy, and with F. and G." (names at length). I thenreceived a promise of future communication with all three spirits; thetwo last had left the world twenty and twelve years before. Other personspresent then received communications by rapping; of these some were assingularly truthful and satisfactory as that to myself, while others werefalse and even mischievous.

Mrs. De Morgan observes that after the seances with Mrs. Hayden she andher friends experimented in private, "and it was found that a number ofpersons, both in and out of my own family, possessed the faculty ofmediumship in a greater or less degree."

NOTE TO CHAPTER X

WERE THE DAVENPORTS JUGGLERS OR SPIRITUALISTS?

As Mr. Houdini has seemed to question whether the Davenports themselvesever asserted that they were Spiritualists, it may clear the matter upfinally to quote the following from a letter written by them in 1868 tothe Banner of Light, the leading Spiritualist journal in the UnitedStates. Dealing with the report that they were not Spiritualists, theywrote:

It is singular that any individual, sceptic or Spiritualist, couldbelieve such statements after fourteen years of the most bitterpersecution and violent opposition, culminating in the riots ofLiverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds, where our lives were placed inimminent peril by the fury of brutal mobs, our property destroyed, andwhere we suffered a loss of seventy-five thousand dollars, and allbecause we would not renounce Spiritualism, and declare ourselvesjugglers, when threatened by the mob, and urged to do so. In conclusion,we have only to say that we denounce all such statements as basefalsehoods.